GIFT  OF 


Slumbering  Volcano 


Industrial  and   Economic  Treatise 


MT.    LASSEN— See  Page  67 

BY 

WALTER    WIRT    FELTS 

STOCKTON,     CALIFORNIA 
1915 

ERROR 


SYMBOL  OF  TRUTH  AND   ERROR— See  Page  36—38 


PRICE 


3S    CENTS 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 


Dedicated  to  All  Organizations  on  Earth  That  Stand 

for  Better  Economic  and  Industrial  Conditions 

and  Are  Making  Way  for  Human  Liberty. 


BY 


WALTER  WIRT  FELTS 

STOCKTON,  CAL. 


Author    "Principles   of   Science,"  "Natural   Law    in   the    Business   World," 
Founder  of  "The  Circular  System." 


COPYRIGHT  1915 
WALTER  WIRT  FEI.TS 


. 


INTRODUCTION. 


This  little  pamphlet  requires  no  introduction.  It  will  introduce 
itself  to  all  open  minded  people  who  are  concerned  with  the  solution 
of  the  grave  economic  and  industrial  problems  that  are  not  only  a 
menace  to  the  institutions  and  government  of  the  United  States,  but 
threaten  the  overthrow  of  civilization. 

Without  a  book  of  any  kind  for  reference  (save  a  Bible  which  I 
h(jrrowed),  I  write  this  book  in  the  depths  of  retirement,  "far  from 
the  madding  crowds  in  noble  strife."  Yet,  I  ask  no  forbearance  of 
criticism.  I  am  fully  able  and  abundantly  prepared  to  defend  it 
against  the  criticism  of  all  who  pose  as  authority  on  economics, 
politics,  science,  religion,  heredity  or  any  other  matter  discussed  in 
these  chapters.  I  serve  notice,  however,  that  no  attention  will  be 
paid  to  "lickspittles"  who  may  snap  at  my  heels  at  the  bidding  of 
their  masters.  My  hat  is  in  the  ring,  and  none  but  heavy-weights 
need  answer  the  challenge. 

WALTER  WIRT  FELTS, 

Stockton,  California. 


323443 


HEED  THE  WARNING. 


MILLIONS  ARE  RESTING  IN  FALSE  SECURITY  OVER  A 
SLUMBERING  VOLCANO. 


Chicago,  Aug.  28,  1915.— "We  find  the  basic  cause  of  industrial 
dissatisfaction  to  be  due  to  low  wages,  or,  stated  in  another  way, 
to  the  fact  that  the  workers  of  the  nation,  through  compulsory  or 
oppressive  methods,  legal  and  illegal,  are  denied  the  full  product  of 
their  toil." 

Do  you  say  that  "every  man  has  his  price" — that  all  honor  is  a 
commercial  commodity?  I  will  ask  you  to  name  the  price  that  the 
money  powers  would  have  gladly  paid  to  Chairman  Walsh  of  the 
Federal  Industrial  Relations  Commission  to  have  given  out  a  report 
exonerating  capitalists  from  responsibility  for  the  oppression  and 
maltreatment  of  labor?  A  million  dollars?  I  say,  he  could  have 
named  the  price  for  suppressing  the  scathing  statmements  which, 
coming  from  high  official  source,  stirs  class  hatred  to  its  depths. 

I  admire  the  great  moral  courage  of  Cfiairman  Walsh,  and 
honor  him  as  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  the  nation,  but  cannot  re- 
frain from  criticising  his  appeal  to  the  people  to  "eliminate  the 
injustice  exposed  by  this  commission,  to  the  end  that  each  laborer 
may  secure  the  whole  products  of  his  labor."  I  criticise  that  appeal 
for  failing  to  point  out  the  course  to  pursue  to  secure  to  each  laborer 
"the  whole  product  of  his  labor."  By  inference  I  take  it  that  Mr. 
Walsh  had  in  mind  the  substitution  of  the  system  of  cooperation  for 
existing  capitalism.  That  is,  in  fact,  the  only  remedy,  but  Mr.  Walsh 
made  no  such  suggestion.  In  fact,  he  gave  no  specific  instructions  as 
to  how  to  proceed  with  the  agitation.  I  have  written  this  book  for 
that  very  purpose — to  point  the  only  way  to  the  system  that  will 
insure  to  the  toiler  the  whole  products  of  his  labor. 

I  have  gathered  the  most  striking  portions  of  the  report  and 
herewith  present  them  as  mutterings  from  the  slumbering  industrial 
volcano. 

Chairman  Walsh's  report  follows :  "  Charged  by  your  honor- 
able body  with  the  investigation  to  discover  the  underlying  causes 
of  dissatisfaction  in  the  industrial  situation,  we  present  the  following 
findings  and  conclusions : 

"We  find  the  basic  cause  of  industrial  dissatisfaction  to  be  due 
to  low  wages ;  or,  stated  in  another  way,  to  the  fact  that  the  workers 


6  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

of  the  nation,  through  compulsory  or  oppressive  methods,  legal  or 
illegal,  are  denied  the  lull -product  of  their  toil. 

"We  further  find  that  unrest  among  workers  of  industry  has 
grown  to  such  proportions  that  it  already  menaces  the  social  good 
will  and  peace  of  the  nation.  Citizens  numbering  millions  smart 
under  the  sense  of  injustice  and  oppression,  born  of  conviction  that 
opportunity  is  denied  ihem  to  acquire  for  themselves  and  their 
families  that  degree  of  economic  well-being  necessary  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  material  and  spiritual  satisfaction  which  alone  make  life 
worth  living. 

Fair  Warning  of  Trouble 

"The  extent  and  depth  of  industrial  unrest  can  hardly  be  exag- 
gerated. State  and  national  conventions  of  labor  organizations 
numbering  many  thousands  cheered  the  names  of  leaders  imprisoned 
for  participation  in  a  campaign  of  violence  conducted  as  one  phase 
of  the  conflict  with  organized  employers.  Thirty  thousand  workers 
in  a  sing-le  strike  followed  the  leadership  of  a  man  who  denounced 
the  government  and  called  for  relentless  warfare  on  organized 
society.  Employers  from  coast  to  coast  have  created  and  maintained 
small  private  armies  of  armed  men  and  used  these  forces  to  intimidate 
and  suppress  striking  employes,  deporting,  imprisoning,  assaulting 
and  killing  their  leaders.  Elaborate  spy  systems  are  maintained  to 
discover  and  forestall  movements  of  the  enemy. 

Hostility  to  Militia 

"The  use  of  state  troops  in  policing  strikes  has  bred  bitter  hos- 
tility against  the  militia  system  among  members  of  labor  organiza- 
tions, and  states  have  been  unable  to  enlist  wage-earners  'for  this 
second  line  of  the  nation's  defense.  Courts,  legislators  and  gov- 
ernors have  been  rightfully  accused  of  serving  employers  and  their 
agents,  with  almost  negligible  exception.  It  is  the  wage-earners 
who  believe  and  assert  and  prove  that  the  very  institutions  of  their 
country  have  been  perverted  by  the  powers  of  the  employer.  Prison 
records  for  labor  leaders  have  become  badges  of  honor  in  the  eyes 
of  their  people,  and  great  mass-meetings  throughout  the  nation  cheer 
denunciations  of  the  courts  and  court  decisions." 

The  Latest  Recruits 

The  report  points  out  that  ministers,  professors,  writers  and 
others  have  come  to  the  support  of  the  militant  labor  campaign  re- 
cently, and  continues :  "We  find  the  unrest  herein  described  to  be 
but  the  latest  manifestation  of  the  age-long  struggle  of  the  race  for 
freedom  of  opportunity  for  every  individual  to  live  his  life  to  the 
highest  ends.  As  the  nobles  of  England  wrung  independence  from 
King  John,  and  as  the  tradesmen  of  France  broke  through  the  ring 
of  privilege  enclosing  the  Three  Estates,  so  to-day  millions  who  serve 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  7 

society  in  arduous  labor  on  the  highways,  aloft  on  scaffoldings,  or 
by  the  sides  of  whirling  machines,  are  demanding  that  they,  too, 
and  their  children  enjoy  all  the  blessings  that  justify  and  make  beau- 
tiful this  life. 

Still  Other  Charges 

"The  unrest  of  wage-earners  has  been  augmented  by  recent 
changes  and  developments  in  industry.  Chief  among  these  are  the 
rapid  and  universal  introduction  and  extension  of  machinery  of  pro- 
duction by  which  unskilled  workers  may  be  substituted  for  skilled, 
and  equally  rapid  development  in  the  means  of  rapid  transportation 
and  communication,  wherein-  private  capital  has  been  enabled  to 
organize  in  great  corporations  possessing  enormous  economic  power. 
"Xow,  more  than  ever,  the  profits  of  great  industries  under 
centralized  control  pour  into  the  coffers  of  stockholders  and  directors 
who  never  so  much  as  visited  the  plants  and  who  perform  no  service 
in  return.  While  vast  inherited  fortunes  representing  zero  in  social 
service  to  the  credits  of  their  possessors,  automatically  treble  and 
multiply  in  volume,  two-thirds  of  those  who  toil  from  eight  to  twelve 
hours  a  day  receive  less  than  enough  to  support  them  and  their 
families  in  decency  and  comfort.  From  childhood  to  the  grave  they 
dwell  in  the  shadow  of  fear  that  only  resource — opportunity  to  toil 
—shall  be  taken  away  from  them  through  accident  or  illness,  the 
caprice  of  a  foreman  or  the  fortunes  of  industry. 

"The  lives  of  their  babies  are  snuffed  out  by  bad  air  in  cheap 
lodgings  and  lack  of  nourishment  and  care  which  they  cannot  buy. 
Fathers  and  husbands  die  or  are  maimed  in  accidents;  their  families 
receive  a  pittiance  or  succumb  in  mid-life,  and  they  receive  nothing. 
"And  when  these  unfortunates  seek,  by  the  only  means  within 
reach,  to  better  their  lot  by  organizing  to  lift  themselves  from  help- 
lessness through  some  measure  of  collective  power  with  which  to 
wring  living  wages  from  their  employers,  they  find  too  often  arrayed 
against  them  not  only  the  massed  power  of  capital,  but  every  arm 
of  the  government  that  was  created  to  enforce  the  guarantees  of 
equality  and  justice. 

"We  find  that  many  entire  communities  exist  under  arbitrary 
economic  control  of  corporation  officials  charged  with  the  manage- 
ment of  an  industry  or  group  of  industries.  We  find  that  in  such 
communities  politicial  liberty  does  not  exist  and  its  forms  are  hollow 
mockeries. 

Employers  Are  Czars 

"The  liberties  of  such  a  community  lie  in  the  hollow  of  the  em- 
ployer's hand.  Free  speech,  free  assembly  and  a  free  press  may  be 
denied,  and  have  been  denied  time  and  again  where  the  employer's 
agents  may  be  placed  in  office  to  do  his  bidding. 


8  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

"In  large  communities  where  espionage  is  impossible,  the  wage- 
earner  who  is  not  supported  by  a  collective  organization  may  enjoy 
freedom  of  expression  cutside  the  workshop,  but  there  his  freedom 
ends.  It  is  a  freedom  that  is  more  apparent  than  real;  for  the  house 
he  lives  in,  the  food  he  eats,  the  clothing  he  wears,  the  environment 
of  his  wife  and  children,  and  his  own  health  and  safety  are  in  the 
hands  of  the  employer  through  arbitrary  powers  which  he  exercises 
in  fixing  wages  and  working  conditions. 

Straight  to  the  Point 

"Social  responsibility  for  these  unfortunate  conditions  may  be 
fixed  with  reasonable  certainty.  The  responsibility  and  such  blame 
as  attaches  thereto  cannot  be  held  to  rest  upon  the  employers,  since 
in  the  maintenance  of  the  evils  of  low  wages,  long  hours  and  bad 
factory  conditions,  in  their  attempts  to  gain  control  of  economic 
and  political  advantages  which  would  promote  their  interests,  they 
have  merely  followed  the  natural  bent  of  men  involved  in  the  struggle 
of  competitive  industry. 

"Responsibility  for  the  conditions  which  are  described  above,  we 
declare,  rests  primarily  upon  the  workers,  wrho,  blind  to  their  col- 
lective strength  and  oftentimes  deaf  to  the  cries  of  their  fellows, 
suffer  exploitation  and  evasion  of  their  most  sacred  rights  without 
resistance. 

"In  a  large  measure  responsibility  must,  however,  attach  to  the 
great  mass  of  citizens  who,  though  not  directly  involved  in  the 
struggle  with  capital  ana  labor,  failed  to  realize  that  their  own  pros- 
perity was  dependent  upon  the  welfare  of  all  cias&cs  of  the  com- 
munity, and  that  their  rights  wrere  bound  up  with  the  rights  of  every 
other  individual.  But  until  the  workers  themselves  realize  their  re- 
sponsibility and  utilize  in  full  their  collective  power,  no  action,  gov- 
ernmental or  altrustic,  can  work  any  genuine  and  lasting  improve- 
ment." 

Report  Quotes  Lincoln 

The  report  quotes  Abraham  Lincoln :  "To  secure  to  each  laborer 
the  whole  product  of  hL  labor,  or  as  nearly  as  possible,  is  a  worthy 
object  for  any  good  government,"  and  declares:  "With  this  lofty 
ideal  for  a  goal  and  under  the  sublime  leadership  of  the  deathless 
Lincoln,  we  call  upon  our  citizens,  regardless  of  politics  and  economic 
conditions,  to  use  every  means  of  agitation,  all  avenues  of  education 
and  every  department  and  function  of  government  to  eliminate  the 
injustices  exposed  by  this  commission,  to  the  end  that  each  laborer 
may  secure  the  whole  product  of  his  labor." 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  9 

A  SIDELIGHT. 

That  the  reader  may  realize  that  I  am  acquainted  with  real  life 
in  all  its  phases  and  conditions,  and  note  that  I  have  touched 
humanity  at  every  point,  beginning  when  I  was  a  little  orphan  boy 
reared  by  illiterate  people  in  the  "backwoods"  of  the  earliest-settle- 
ment of  California,  to  farm  laborer,  college  training,  years  of  reckless 
dissipation  during  the  era  of  'California's  greatest  prosperity,* 
journalist,  scientist,  author  of  books,  inventor,  two  strenuous  years 
endeavoring  to  float  an  invention  with  great  capitalists  and  pro- 
moters, mining  experience  which  involved  the  wrecking  of  my  home 
life  by  the  death  of  my  saintly  wife  under  circumstances  that  revealed 
medical  malpractice,  on  down  into  poverty,  where  I  struggled  hard 
against  the  machinations  and  intrigue  of  human  devils,  toiling  in  my 
mine  with  two  little  motherless  boys  to  provide  and  care  for;  from 
time  to  time  forced  to  wage  earning  at  the  hardest  kind  of  labor 
with  men  whose  fate  was  a  life  of  toil — then  "plunging"  in  desperate 
effort  to  regain  my  footing,  on  down  to  the  writing  of  this  book, 
which  gives  the  cream  of  a  rich  and  varied  experience. 

I  take  up  the  tangled  thread  of  my  eventful  life  at  the  point  of 
greatest  general  interest  which  throws  a  sidelight  on  the  crooked 
business  methods  of  big  financiers  and  promoters,  opening  the 
narrative  with  an  account  of  my  failure  to  introduce  a  system  of 
science  that  was  new  and  revolutionary. 

I  was  residing  in  Shasta  county,  California,  in  the  early  '90s, 
and  comfortably  situated,  when  my  wife,  who  was  a  woman,  of 
education  and  culture,  began  to  urge  me  to  write  a  treatise  on  the 
new  system  of  science  in  which  she  had  become  interested,  and 
finally  I  consented  and  in  time  completed  the  work  and  placed  the 
manuscripts  with  the  Bancroft  Company,  San  Francisco,  for  publi- 
cation. It  bore  the  title  "Principles  of  Science,"  and,  being  revolu- 
tionary, met  with  a  cool  reception.  I  decided  to  follow  it  up  with  a 
magazine  to  have  a  more  comprehensive  and  appropriate  title,  "The 
Circular  System."  I  sold  out  my  property  and  moved  to  Oakland, 

*The  liquor  traffic  with  its  attendant  evil,  the  underworld,  is  a  product 
of'  the  profit  syseni,  and  for  the  exisence  of  which  the  government  of  the 
1'niled  States  is  responsible  through  the  protection  afforded  by  the  internal 
revenue  tax.  The  government  is  therefore  responsible  for  all  the  crimes 
traceable  to  the  liquor  traffic,  for  the  appalling  wreck  of  womanhood  by 
prostitution  and  for  the  premature  death  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men 
and  women  who  now  fill  drunkards'  graves.  All  for  the  paltry  gain  derived 
from  the  internal  revenue  tax! 


10  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

where  I  soon  materialized  my  plan.  I  had  an  edition  of  5000  copies 
printed  and  sent  them  to  literary  and  scientific  men  and  institutions 
all  over  the  world. 

Before  moving  to  Oakland,  however,  I  lectured  on  the  system 
and  had  formed  a  personal  acquaintance  with  many  of  the  leading 
educators  and  scientists  of  the  state.  They  all  gave  my  magazine  a 
cool  reception.  I  had  four  monthly  editions  printed  and  published, 
and  all  the  encouragement  I  received  was  from  a  distance.  I  received 
numerous  letters  from  college  professors  with  subscriptions,  and  an 
invitation  from  the  president  and  council  of  the  Philosophical  Society 
of  Great  Britain  to  become  a  member,  a  rare  compliment,  indeed. 

It  was  an  impractical  undertaking,  but  I  was  not  then  aware  of 
the  selfishness  of  humanity.  I  had  dreamed  that  men  who  had  risen 
to  positions  of  distinction — "great  men" — were  living  far  above  the 
envy  and  petty  jealousies  of  the  multitude,  and  that  they  would 
"boost"  the  new  system  into  prominence  when  they  were  convinced 
it  had  merit.  It  cost  me  all  I  had  to  raise  the  curtain  of  sham  and 
deception  that  hides  the  weakness  of  the  so-called  "great"  and  see 
laid  bare  the  clay  feet  of  my  idol.  I  have  learned,  and  now  know, 
that  the  competitive  system  is  no  respecter  of  persons  and  contami- 
nates the  so-called  "great"  with  the  same  spirit  of  selfishness  and 
intolerance  that  actuates  the  ignorant  rabble.  I  have  learned,  and 
now  know,  that  in  all  the  history  of  the  human  race  there  have  been 
very  few  really  great  men — gigantic  men  who  towered  above  their 
own  selfish  interests  and  ambition.  Pope  thus  expresses  it :  "Like 
Socrates,  that  man  is  great,  indeed."  And  I  have  the  impression 
that,  if  there  are  any  such  now  living  on  earth  they  are  poor  and 
obscure. 

I  then  had  to  turn  to  something  more  practical,  as  I  then  had 
a  family  of  two  boys.  Homer,  who  is  now  a  high-class  printer,  ami 
Elbert,  who  has  attained  wide  reputation  as  a  baseball  player 
throughout  the  Pacific  Coast  states.  Being  naturally  resourceful,  I 
soon  found  my  way  back  into  the  journalistic  field  and  drudged 
along  with  indifferent  success. 

Later  I  began  experimenting  with  the  view  to  inventing  a, 
primary  battery.  My  purpose  was  to  invent  a  battery  of  merit,  as 
there  was  none  in  use  of  any  value.  I  devoted  much  time,  labor  and 
study  to  it  with  the  result  that,  from  a  battery  of  a  few  cells,  I 
succeeded  in  burning  a  six-candle  power  incandescent  lamp  for  hours. 
I  was  then  in  the  town  of  Colusa,  where  I  had  many  acquaintances. 
The  exhibit  aroused  considerable  interest,  the  local  papers  giving  me 
favorable  notices.  A  local  company  was  soon  organized  for  the 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  11 

ostensible  purpose  of  perfecting  the  invention  and  placing  it  on  the 
market.  I  had  considerable  trouble  with  the  directors,  who  seemed 
determined  to  secure  absolute  control. 

Finally  I  moved  to  Sacramento  and  arranged  with  two  promi- 
nent local  electricians  to  verify  tests  which  they  were  to  make,  in 
consideration  of  several  thousand  shares  of  stock  each.  I  put  up  a 
standard  sized  battery  in  the  basement  of  the  old  Granger  building, 
near  the  state  capitol,  and  exhibited  lights  and  motor  power  on  the 
ground  floor.  The  exhibit  was  a  success  and  created  great  interest. 
The  statements  published  by  my  electricians  verified  all  my  claims 
for  the  invention. 

A  number  of  wealthy  men  "put  their  heads  together"  to  steal 
the  secret  of  the  process.  The  great  doors  to  the  basement  were 
secured  by  a  lock  that  was  very  difficult  to  "pick,"  so  they,  with  one 
or  both  of  my  electricians,  tore  away  the  lock  and  examined  the 
battery,  undoubtedly  taking  samples  of  the  contents.  Monday  morn- 
ing I  went  down  to  open  the  doors  and,  to  my  astonishment,  saw 
at  a  glance  that  I  had  been  robbed. 

Those  capitalists  had  undoubtedly  made  arrangements  with  a 
party  I  had  just  sent  to  the  patent  office  at  Washington  to  secure 
the  patent  in  another  name.  The  whole  scheme  dawned  on  me  at 
once,  so  I  took  the  street  car  home,  determined  to  invent  an  improve- 
ment, which  I  did  in  short  notice.  It  was  a  decided  improvement 
in  every  way.  I  let  the  capitalist  burglars  kno\v  of  the  improvement 
I  had  invented,  and  shortly  I  received  a  letter  from  a  party  at  Elk 
Grove,  near  Sacramento,  a  Mr.  Gammon,  who  afterwards  became 
famous  for  his  escapades  in  Paris.  He  stated  that  a  company  would 
buy  the  invention  at  $55,000,  $5000  cash  and  $50,000  in  stock  and 
bonds,  allowing  me  a  salary  of  $150  per  month.  He  sent  papers  in 
duplicate  for  me  to  sign,  the  same  to  be  ratified  at  once  by  the 
payment  to  me  of  $5000. 

Having  gone  through  the  "flint  mills''  with  the  Colusa  crowd 
and  now  confronted  by  the  offer  to  go  in  with  a  gang  of  thieves,  I 
was  exasperated  and  turned  down  the  offer  promptly.  Wife  and  I 
decided  to  "pull  up  stakes"  and  go  East,  where  there  was  plenty 
of  capital. 

Accordingly  we  made  ready  and  started  on  the  long  journey. 
We  decided  to  stop  off  at  St.  Louis,  where  we  remained  but  a  short 
time.  We  continued  our  journey  on  to  Chicago  and  arrived  there 
in  the  fall  of  1895.  I  was  well  pleased  with  Chicago — its  buildings, 
streets,  avenues,  boulevards  and  its  people — from  appearances. 

Soon  after  arriving  T  decided  to  have  the  invention  experted 
by  an  accredited  electrician  and  secure  from  him  a  typewritten 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

statement  giving-  the  result  of  his  tests.  I  went  direct  to  the  manager 
of  a  great  storage  battery  concern  and  laid  the  whole  matter  before 
him.  In  reply  he  said  he  would  not  take  any  money  on  such  a 
proposition,  saying  that  he  did  not  mean  to  be  discourteous,  but  that 
he  felt  quite  sure  "there  is  not  a  primary  battery  on  earth  worth 

a  d n."    I  asked  him  then  if  he  could  give  me  the  name  of  an 

expert  electrician  who  would  expert  my  battery,  and  he  gave  me 
the  street  and  number  of  R.  H.  Pierce,  who  was  the  electrical 
engineer  of  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago.  I  went  direct  and  found 
him  in  his  office,  and  we  fixed  the  hour  at  9  a.  m.  next  morning 
when  he  would  be  at  my  residence. 

He  came  promptly,  and  after  a  preliminary  test  of  a  few  minutes, 
long  enough  to  satisfy  himself  that  I  had  "the  goods,"  he  suggested 
that  we  go  to  the  front  door  and  take  a  smoke,  handing  me  a  25-cent 
cigar  as  we  left  the  room.  His  purpose  was  to  make  a  proposition 
to  me  alone,  and  the  proposition  was  to  let  him  have  two  cells  to 
attach  to  his  phonograph,  and  he  would  give  me  a  statement,  free 
of  cost,  remarking  that  I  would  thereby  save  $25  which  was  his 
smallest  fee  for  one  day.  I  assured  him  that  his  fee  was  very 
moderate  and  to  proceed  with  his  test.  It  is  needless  to  tell  the 
reader  why  he  made  the  magnanimous  (?)  offer.  You  see,  I  was 
from  California,  which  was  then  a  part  of  the  "wild  and  woollv 
west." 

Well,  the  professor  \vas  quite  congenial,  and  even  companion- 
able. He  was  more  than  interested,  and  remained  with  us  until 
evening,  when  he  decided  to  make  a  test  of  the  waste  of  zinc  after  a 
run  on  short  circuit  of  ninety  minutes.  The  zinc,  which  was  common 
stuff,  such  as  is  used  under  stoves,  was  weighed  before  and  after 
the  run  and  the  wraste,  which  was  a  trifle,  noted.  He  remained  with 
us  until  1 :30  a.  m.,  when  he  took  the  street  car  for  his  home. 

Next  day  I  went  to  his  office  and  he  handed  me  the  typewritten 
statement,  which  was  a  valuable  document.  At  least,  it  would  have 
been  if  I  could  have  found  an  honest  promoter  or  capitalist.  I  made 
several  efforts  to  sell  the  invention  and  got  several  offers  that 
appeared  at  first  glance  to  be  O.  K.  and  would  deceive  any  "hayseed." 
Pierce  was  anxious  to  handle  the  invention,  but  I  discarded  him 
when  he  referred  me  to  a  big  promoter  who  had  a  scheme  for 
himself  and  Pierce. 

Now,  I  was  aware  that  my  patent  solicitor  I  had  sent  from 
Sacramento  to  Washington  was  still  around  the  patent  office, 
evidently  kept  there  by  the  capitalist  burglars  who  broke  into  my 
battery  room  at  Sacramento,  to  watch  for  a  patent  application  with 
the  view  to  side-tracking  it.  So  I  had  to  handle  the  invention  as  a 
secret  process.  I  offered,  however,  to  reveal  the  secret  upon  the 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  13 

deposit  to  my  credit  of  $75,000  to  be  paid  to  me  if,  upon  satisfactory 
tests,  it  was  proven  that  I  had  given  over  every  detail  of  the  process. 
That  was  fair,  but  every  scoundrel  of  them  would  prefer  putting  up 
"hot  air"  rather  than  money. 

At  length,  after  six  months'  sojourn  in  Chicago,  I  became  dis- 
gusted and  moved  to  New  York  City,  where  there  was  much  capital. 
I  soon  found,  however,  that  I  was  in  the  very  shadow  of  the  "golden 
calf"  where  about  3,000,000  idolaters  worshiped  at  that  shrine.  I 
met  Edison  at  West  Orange,  and  he  wanted  me  to  leave  a  couple  of 
cells  for  him  to  test,  which  I  did — not.  I  met  Tesla,  a  fine  gentleman, 
who  said  my  invention  was  entirely  out  of  his  line,  but  he  warned 
me  to  be  guarded.  He  told  me  he  was  "worked"  out  of  his  first 
invention.  I  met  other  prominent  electricians  and  many  millionaires, 
and  "mixed  up"  with  some  of  the  greatest  promoters  on  earth.  It 
was  surely  a  rich  experience. 

I  put  in  an  exhibit  of  a  cluster  of  eight-candle  power  lamps  at 
the  electrical  exposition  at  the  Grand  Central  Palace.  I  used  small 
cells  on  a  little  table  in  my  booth,  all  in  plain  view,  so  that  it  was 
impossible  to  suspect  that  I  was  practicing  deception.  It  attracted 
great  interest  as  the  lamps  were  much  above  their  registered  candle 
power  and  fairly  sparkled  in  a  cluster.  It  was  the  greatest  electrical 
exposition  ever  gotten  up  to  that  time  and  continued  for  three  weeks 
with  an  average  of  5000  attendance.  A  number  of  efforts  were  made 
to  steal  the  secret  of  the  process,  but  with  my  good  wife's  assistance* 
we  easily  circumvented  every  attempt. 

One  experience  was  notable.  Charles  Broadway  Rouse,  the  blind 
millionaire  merchant,  offered  $1,000,000  to  any  one  who  would 
restore  his  sight,  which  was  practically  destroyed  by  atrophy  of  the 
optic  nerve.  He  offered  as  a  substitute  for  various  treatments  a  poor 
young  man  by  the  name  of  Martin,  who  was  blind  from  the  same 
cause,  agreeing  to  pay  his  expenses  during  the  time  he  was  engaged 
in  trying  out  different  treatments.  If  any  treatment  restored  Martin's 
sight,  he  would  take  it  and,  upon  the  restoration  of  his  sight,  he  would 
pay  $1,000,000.  Oculists  declared  atrophy  of  the  optic  nerve  incur- 
able, yet  the  wide  publicity  of  the  case  all  over  the  world  brought  to 
Rouse,  in  practically  all  languages,  proposed  remedies,  some  of  them 
ridiculous. 

I  decided  to  try  the  electric  current  from  my  battery  on  Martin 
if  I  could  get  Rouse's  consent.  I  went  to  his  great  store  on  Broadway 
and  found  him  there  directing  the  business  of  the  concern  through 
his  secretary.  Rouse  had  large  stores  in  five  of  the  principal  cities  of 
the  world.  I  made  my  business  known  to  him,  and  in  a  gruff  business 
manner  he  referred  me  to  Martin,  giving  me  his  street  and  number. 
I  found  Martin  at  home  and,  though  poor,  was  a  good  looking  fellow 


14  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

with  independent,  manly  bearing.  Martin  had  been  a  druggist.  He 
at  once  consented  to  take  the  treatment,  and  upon  my  return  home  1 
fixed  up  a  battery  of  three  cells,  which  would  give  about  six  volts 
and  fifteen  amperes. 

I  began  the  treatment  systematically  and  in  a  couple  of  weeks 
thought  I  was  making  some  progress  in  restoring  Martin's  sight,  for 
he  was  not  "stone"  blind,  nor  was  Rouse.  They  could  barely  dis- 

J  J 

tinguish  between  bright  daylight  and  darkness. 

At  this  juncture  the  reporters  of  the  New  York  "World," 
"Journal"  (now  "American")  and  "Sun"  got  "wind"  of  the  treat- 
ment and  called  for  a  big  writeup.  The  reporters  were  admitted,  and 
they  surely  gave  me  a  flaming  writeup.  They  made  it  quite  sensa- 
tional, and  it  saddened  me  when  next  morning  a  large  number  of 
blind  people  called  on  me  for  treatment.  I  was  compelled  to  turn 
them  away,  taking  their  names  and  addresses,  however,  and 
promising  to  drop  each  one  a  card  if  I  became  convinced  that 
Martin's  sight  would  be  restored. 

But  Rouse  was  noted  for  his  eccentricities  and  was  hot  tempered 
and  impatient.  Besides,  others  kept  clamoring  personally  and  by 
letter  to  take  the  case,  pleading  assurances  that  each  had  the  remedy. 
So  Rouse  finally  ordered  the  treatment  discontinued,  and  directed 
Martin  to  begin  other  treatments. 

Edison  had  planned  to  take  the  case  and  try  the  X-ray  treat- 
ment. The  X-ray  discovery  had  recently  been  made  and  all  sorts  of 
marvelous  cures  of  diseases  were  predicted.  During  my  treatment 
of  Martin,  however,  Edison  had  a  blind  girl  under  treatment,  but  the 
frequent  exposure  to  the  X-ray  removed  all  her  hair,  so  that  Edison 
decided  not  to  take  Martin  under  treatment. 

Tesla  had  also  planned  to  take  the  case  and  pass  100,000  volts 
through  Martin's  head  with  the  hope  that  it  would  stimulate  the 
optic  nerve.  He  could  find  no  reputable  physician  who  would  in  any 
way  be  responsible  for  results  and,  although  Tesla  had  passed 
250,000  volts  through  his  body,  he  feared  that  the  passage  of  100,000 
volts  through  the  brain  might  prove  fatal,  so  he  gave  it  up.*  Never- 
theless, Martin  was  kept  busy  taking  various  treatments. 

Truth  is  said  to  be  stranger  than  fiction,  and  here  I  will  relate 
a  true  story  of  how  a  blind  man  could  apparently  see  and  go  at  will 
over  the  great  city  of  New  York  without  a  guide,  and  never  meet 
with  an  accident  during  the  nine  years  of  his  blindness. 

"'People  generally  have  the  impression  that  high  voltage  kills  when  on-1 
is  electrocuted,  whereas,  ii  is  the  ampere  that  coagulates  the  blood  and  stops 
heart  action.  Voltage  is  pressure;  amperage  is  volume  or  quantity;  plainly 
termed,  "the  miner's  inch."  Tesla  discovered  a  process  by  which  he  could 
secure  high  voltaic  practically  without  amperage,  and  by  that  process  with- 
stood a  pressure  of  250.000  volts  without  receiving  injury. 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  15 

One  morning  after  I  had  given  Martin  his  treatment,  he  sug- 
gested that  we  walk  "downtown,"  and  pass  through  an  interesting 
part  of  the  city.  I  gladly  assented,  and  we  started  out  from  my 
residence  on  Twenty-second  street,  near  Eighth  avenue.  As  we 
passed  buildings  of  note,  such  as  the  Music  Hall,  Tony  Pastor's  old 
opera  house,  the  Salvation  Army  building,  etc.,  Martin  would  point, 
them  all  out.  with  accuracy.  I  noticed,  too,  that  I  had  no  occasion  to 
warn  him  at  street  crossings  and  that  he  walked  with  me  with  no 
more  difficulty  than  one  would  experience  with  good  eyesight. 

At  one  point  en  route  I  noticed  some  long  timbers  slanting 
over  the  sidewalk,  placed  there  to  hold  the  walls  of  a  building  under 
repair.  Martin  was  on  the  street  side  of  the  sidewalk,  and  if  he 
failed  to  turn  toward  the  building  or  stoop  he  would  walk  against 
the  timbers.  I  kept  a  close  watch  to  warn  him  in  time,  but  he  needed 
no  warning.  He  bore  over  to  the  middle  of  the  sidewalk  until  we 
passed  the  timbers,  and  then  resumed  his  former  place.  I  asked  him 
how  he  knew  there  was  such  an  obstruction,  and  he  replied  that  he 
knew  there  was  something  there,  and  asked  me  what  it  was.  I  told 
him,  and  asked  him  to  tell  me  how  he  knew  there  was  anything  in 
the  way.  He  said  he  did  not  know,  but  that  he  never  made  a  mistake. 

\Ve  went  over  to  Third  avenue  and  when  we  reached  Gramercy 
Park  he  pointed  out  the  old  residence  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  "The  Sage 
of  Gramercy  Park,"  as  he  was  known  by  his  multitude  of  friends  and 
admirers.  We  passed  on  down  to  Broadway  and  Park  Row,  where 
he  pointed  out  the  city  hall,  postoffice  building,  newspaper  build- 
ings, etc. 

Upon  another  occasion  I  was  at  his  home  on  Elizabeth  street 
and,  when  1  was  taking  my  departure,  he  said  he  would  go  with  me 
as  far  as  Broadway  and  transfer  down  town.  When  we  reached 
Broadway  he  got  off  the  street  car,  went  to  the  sidewalk  and  stopped 
at  the  street  corner  an  instant,  then  hurried  to  a  street  car  that  was 
standing  in  Broadway  waiting  for  passengers  to  get  on  and  off.  He 
went  safely  among  vehicles  in  crowded  Broadway  and  got  aboard  the 
car  just  as  one  with  perfect  sight  would  do. 

With  the  exception  of  having  been  knocked  down  a  time  or  twro 
by  careless  bicycle  riders,  in  all  the  nine  years  of  Tiis  blindness  he  had 
never  met  with  an  accident.  How  he  could  go  safely  through  the 
crowded  streets  of  that  great  city  with  such  accuracy  and  always 
without  a  guide  is  a  mystery.  He  had  no  explanation,  and  all  but 
spiritualists  would  be  at  a  loss  for  a  satisfactory  explanation. 

The  belief  of  that  sect  is  that  he  had  a  spirit  guide  that  led  him 
more  safely  than  could  an  earthly  guide.  Not  having  a  better 
explanation  for  the  remarkable  phenomenon,  I  am  perfectly  willing 
to  let  it  go  at  that. 


16  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

Resuming  my  narrative,  the  stirring  events  following  the 
sensational  newspaper  reports  threw  me  and  my  invention  into  the 
limelight,  and  I  received  a  number  of  invitations  from  promoters 
to  call  at  their  offices  as  they  were  desirous  of  opening  negotiations 
for  handling  the  invention.  I  called  on  two  or  three  of  them,  and 
each  and  all  had  a  splendid  proposition  to  submit — with  a  "joker'1 
concealed. 

A  rather  dramatic  event  took  place  at  this  juncture.  In  fashion- 
able apartments  on  an  upper  floor  of  the  great  building  in  which  we 
resided  lived  a  brilliant  actress  who  was  there  on  a  vacation.  She 
decided  to  "butt  in"  for  a  deal  as  a  promoter.  She  made  the 
acquaintance  of  myself  and  family,  and  was  a  frequent  and  very 
entertaining  caller.  She  was  a  fine  conversationalist  and  of  attractive 
appearance.  Her  scheme  was  to  take  the  matter  up  with  Lewellen  of 
No.  3  Wall  street.  We  soon  reached  an  understanding  and,  securing 
a  copy  of  Pierce's  statement  of  his  test  of  my  battery  at  Chicago,  she 
went  to  her  millionaire  friend.  He  took  the  matter  up  with  Johnson, 
civil  engineer  at  Niagara  Falls,  together  with  the  electrician  and  a 
New  Orleans  cotton  king.  She  worked  them  up  to  fever  heat,  but 
kept  them  from  meeting  me  personally,  as  they  were  anxious  to  do. 

A  silk  merchant  heard  of  it  and  begged  Mrs.  De  Noy  (for  that 
was  her  stage  name)  to  let  him  into  the  deal.  She  offered  to  let  him 
in  for  a  loan  of  $1500.  He  was  only  too  glad  to  make  the  loan,  and 
doubtless  he  has  her  note  to  this  day  if  it  was  written  with  indelible 
ink  on  "buckskin." 

The  temptation  was  too  great,  so  she  fell  a  victim  to  senseless 
greed.  Her  scheme  was  a  holdup  of  all  concerned.  She  planned  to 
force  me  clown  on  my  price  and  bleed  the  capitalists  to  the  limit. 
Although  she  had  in  sight  $20,000,  she  was  not  satisfied,  so  she 
ruptured  the  deal  by  her  inordinate  greed.  I  turned  the  whole 
business  down,  and  later  turned  my  attention  to  writing  my  second 
book,  this  time  an  economic  treatise  entitled  "Natural  Law  in,  the 
Business  World."  It  was  an  economic  phase  of  "The  Circular 
System,"  which  is  a  true  conception  of  science  as  a  whole  and  which 
I  had  originated.  Many  an  important  detail  has  been  left  out  of  this 
narrative,  but  it  would  become  tedious  fer  the  reader.  Altogether  it 
embraced  a  period  of  nearly  two  years  of  such  experience  as  rarely 
falls  to  the  lot  of  a  "little  old"  orphan  boy  who  had  finally  made  his 
way  to  the  front.  It  all  makes  good,  instructive  history,  however, 
that  throws  a  side  light  on  the  crooked  ways  of  the  "higher-ups."* 


*As  Henry  George,  author  of  "Progress  and  Poverty,"  and  one  of  the 
three  greatest  thinkers  and  writers  of  all  times,  was  an  old  Californian,  I 
called  on  him  and  family  at  his  home  on  Brooklyn  Heights.  I  mention  this 
to  throw  a  sidelight  on  the  home  life  of  great  people.  It  has  been  my  good 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  17 

After  completing  the  manuscript  for  my  book  I  went  the  rounds 
of  publishing  houses,  every  one  refusing  to  handle  the  book.  The 
objectionable  chapter  was  devoted  to  proving  scientifically  that 
bimetalism  is  in  conformity  with  natural  law.  This  all  occurred  soon 
after  the  election  in  1896  when  organized  capital  set  its  ponderous 
foot  down  on  bimetalism. 

Determined  not  to  be  outdone,  I  paid  for  the  printing  and 
binding,  and  could  get  none  but  a  religious  publishing  house  to  handle 
the  book.  Yet  this  is  "free  America,"  where  freedom  of  speech  and 
the  press  is  guaranteed ! 

In  March,  1897,  we  took  our  departure  for  Missouri,  where  my 
wife  was  born  and  reared,  stopping  at  Mexico  City,  where  I  con- 
ducted a  newspaper.  When  the  Coffee  Creek  mining  excitement 
broke  out  we  read  in  the  newspapers  of  the  rich  strike,  giving 
Redding,  California,  as  the  nearest  point  by  rail  to  the  new  El 
Dorado.  I  got  the  mining  fever  and  suggested  to  my  wife  that  we 
pack  up  and  go  there  at  once,  remarking  that  I  had  always  believed 
T  would  be  a  lucky  prospector.  So  we  hastened  to  Redding,  but  when 
we  reached  there  the  excitement  was  dying  away.  So  I  decided  to 
prospect  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Redding.  After  securing  a  place 
of  residence,  I  bought  a  pick,  pan  and  shovel  and  went  up  the  Sacra- 
mento river  about  two  and  a  half  miles,  where,  on  a  bar  that  flooded 
during  winter,  and  had  been  a  rich  placer  field,  I  noticed  a  cropping 
of  mineralized  quartz.  Now,  I  was  a  "tenderfoot,"  never  having  had 
any  experience  at  prospecting  for  quartz.  But  I  believed  then,  and 
still  believe,  that  I  am  a  born  prospector,  and  so  was  guided  by  that 
inspiration. 

Old  prospectors  told  me  that  there  was  no  such  thing  as  a  ledge 
in  bedrock,  and  after  I  located  two  claims  and  went  to  work  on  the 
prospect  I  was  the  butt  of  ridicule.  I  could  see  no  logic  in  the  theory 
that  a  ledge  or  body  of  ore  could  not  "live"  in  bedrock,  and,  in  fact, 
on  that  account  the  ground  had  not  been  prospected,  was  encourage- 
ment to  me.  In  spite  of  all  the  ridicule,  I  kept  right  on  at  work, 
using  giant  powder  for  blasting. 

But  I  made  a  fatal  mistake  in  taking  samples  of  the  ore  to  the 
assay  offices  for  examination.  It  seems  now  that  I  should  have 


fortune  to  have  been  personally  associated  with  a  few  great  people,  men 
and  women,  and  I  have  found  them  all  unostentatious  and  without  a  touch 
of  vanity.  Mr.  George  and  family  made  me  feel  like  I  was  with  "home 
folks,"  although  there  was  a  high  order  of  refinement  and  culture  pervading 
the  home,  which  itself  was  unpretentious.  Mrs.  George  was  surely  a  fit 


companon 


daughters 


n    for    that    great    man,  and    the    two    refined    and    accomplished 
s  bore  unmistakable  evidence  of  their  beautiful  home  life. 


18  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

known  better  after  over  two  years'  experience  with  "men  of  affairs." 
But  I  have  been  from  childhood  confiding  and  had  no  natural 
inclination  to  be  suspicious. 

It  is  a  great  body  of  telluride  ore  and  very  refractory.  The 
assayers  pronounced  it  a  sort  of  "water  formation  mineralized  with 
white  iron  and  water  sulphurets."  Finally  I  had  assays  made  by  the 
three  assayers  and  the  report  was  $1.50,  $2  and  $2.60  per  ton.  But 
the  assay  reports  failed  to  discourage  me,  and  I  worked  on  sinking 
a  shaft.  I  would  frequently  drop  into  the  principal  assay  office 
evenings  and  there  was  talk  and  actions  that  aroused  my  suspicion. 
There  was  too  much  interest  taken  in  the  prospect  that,  according  to 
the  assay  reports,  carried  practically  no  value.  I  advised  with  an  old 
prospector  who  told  me  to  roast  a  piece  of  the  ore,  mortar  it  up,  boil 
the  pulp  in  nitric  acid,  then  I  could  pick  the  gold  up  with  quicksilver. 
T  tried  it,  but  nothing  would  adhere  to  the  quicksilver.  I  had  it  in  a 
saucer  and,  not  knowing  what  else  to  do,  took  in  to  my  next  neighbor, 
who  was  a  prospector.  He  examined  it,  then  went  into  an  adjoining 
room,  brought  out  a  little  scale  on  his  knife  blade  and  dropped  it 
in  the  saucer.  Instantly  the  quicksilver  was  brilliant,  and  after 
running  it  around  through  the  pulp  a  few  times  it  was  "loaded."  He 
told  me  to  get  it  on  my  fire  shovel  and  burn  off  the  quicksilver  and  I 
would  have  the  pure  metal.  I  did  so  and  had  a  nice  little  flake  of 
gold.  I  took  it  back  to  my  neighbor  and  he  was  surely  surprised  and 
excited.  He  knew  of  my  suspicion  of  the  assayers,  so  told  me  to  say 
not  a  word  and  he  would  take  hold  with  me  and  extract  the  gold  by 
hand  process,  as  it  was  undoubtedly  very  rich  ore. 

Having  been  reared  in  California  when  it  was  a  land  of  more 
than  plenty  had  developed  in  me  a  spirit  of  independnece  and  old- 
time  manhood  that  would  bow  to  no  human  being  I  "boiled  over" 
with  righteous  indignation  and  belittled  the  assayers,  which  proved  a 
boomerang.  I  got  enough  of  the  preparation  to  make  a  few  more 
tests,  one  by  weight,  which  yielded  10  cents  an  ounce.  He  made  a 
test  of  four  pounds  that  ran  at  the  rate  of  $4000  per  ton. 

But  I  had  "stirred  up  a  hornet's  nest"  which  resulted  in  my 
neighbor  refusing  to  give  me  any  more  of  the  preparation  to  use  with 
the  quicksilver.  The  devils  had  waited  on  him  and  told  him  what 
would  happen  if  he  gave  me  any  further  assistance. 

So  there  I  was,  tied  hands  and  feet,  with  the  prejudice  of  the 
public,  and  envy  and  jealousy  of  prospectors,  against  me;  envious 
because  the  mine  lay  only  two  and  a  half  miles  from  town,  the  crop- 
pings  exposed  and  less  than  fifty  yards  from  the  county  road.  Besides 
I  was  a  "tenderfoot,"  which  made  the  case  more  aggravating. 

At  this  juncture  my  wife's  mother,  a  splendid  old  lady,  who  had 
made  her  home  with  us  since  our  marriage,  became  very  feeble  and, 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  19 

to  our  surprise,  one  morning  while  lying  on  the  lounge,  died  suddenly 
without  a  struggle.  It  was  a  terrible  blow  to  my  wife,  who  was 
strongly  attached  to  her  mother.  With  saddened  hearts  we  interred 
the  remains  in  the  Redding  cemetery. 

I  again  resumed  work  on  the  mine  with  that  determination  that 
knows  no  defeat.  I  continued  the  work  for  only  a  few  weeks  until 
my  wife's  confinement.  Fearing  intrigue,  we  secured  the  services  of 
a  midwife  instead  of  a  physician.  For  several  days  after  the-  baby 
girl  was  born  my  wife  got  along  nicely.  One  clay  she  became  sud- 
denly ill,  however,  and  I  hurried  for  the  nearest  doctor,  who  proved 
to  have  considerable  mining  interests.  He  gave  my  wife  some 
medicine  that  relieved  her,  and  in  a  short  time  she  was  as  well  as 
usual.  Next  morning  the  doctor  called  and  changed  the  medicine 
which,  after  she  had  taken  a  dose,  caused  her  great  pain.  I  hastened 
to  tell  the  doctor,  and  he  returned  and  changed  the  medicine,  which 
was  little  better.  He  came  every  morning  until  my  wife  became 
almost  unconscious,  when  I  told  him  not  to  call  again.  I  employed 
another  physician  but,  alas  too  late,  for  that  night  at  about  midnight 
she  was  seized  by  a  severe  pain  about  her  heart,  and  before  I  could 
return  with  the  physician  she  was  dead. 

And  the  great  light  that  had  come  into  my  life  had  gone  out! 
Almost  stranded  financially,  with  two  little  boys  and  a  baby  girl 
twenty-four  days  old  to  care  for,  with  a  lot  of  devils  against  me — 
what  could  I  do?  Then  was  the  test  of  my  religion,  for,  as  I  have 
stated  elsewhere  in  this  book,  I  was  a  sincere  Christian.  Without 
that  belief  and  faith  I  would  have  been  a  dangerous  man. 

The  midwife  took  care  of  the  baby  until  an  old  friend  of  my 
wife,  Mrs.  A.  A.  Rice,  now  resident  of  Lodi,  Cal.,  sent  for  it,  and 
to  her  credit  be  it  said,  that  she  cared  for  it  like  a  mother  and  reared 
the  motherless  babe,  training  her  to  become  an  ideal  young  lady. 

Fortunately  I  received  the  appointment  as  field  deputy  for  the 
State  Mining  Bureau,  which  would  occupy  my  time  for  about  two 
months  at  a  fee  of  $150.* 

I  rallied,  for  the  t\vo  little  boys  must  be  cared  for  and  properly 
trained  to  become  men  and  not  devils.  I  refused  every  offer  made  to 
take  the  boys  and  care  for  them,  although  through  my  struggles 

*My  enemies  worked  up  a  prejudice  against  me  among  many  people  of 
hVdding  and  laid  all  manner  of  schemes  to  defeat  all  my  efforts.  They  even 
made  up  a  purse  and  sent  one  of  their  number  to  the  State  Mining  Bureau 
at  San  Francisco  to  defeat  my  appointment  as  field  deputy.  They  kept 
vigilant  Avatch  for  all  prospective  purchasers  and  turned  them  away  by 
falsehood  and  misrepresentation.  Through  the  secret  combination  of  mining 
men  they  were  in  touch  with  assayers  everywhere,  rendering  it  impossible 
to  get  correct  assay  reports  on  the  ore. 


20  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

until  they  became  old  enough  to  be  of  assistance  they  were  a  great 
care  and  responsibility ;  yet  I  am  glad,  and  proud  to  say  that  they  are 
both  exemplary  young  men. 

That  was  an  almost  rainless  winter,  1897-8,  so  that  I  put  in 
much  of  the  time  working  at  the  mine  until  February  1st,  the  date  of 
the  baby's  birth.  I  took  up  the  work  as  field  deputy  in  April,  but, 
pending  that  time,  I  met  one  of  the  assayers  who,  to  my  surprise, 
spoke  to  me  about  the  mine  and  asked  me  to  bring  him  some  of  the 
deepest  ore  and  he  would  assay  it.  So  I  did  and,  upon  examination, 
he  pronounced  it  high  grade  ore,  and  promised  to  assay  it  in  two  or 
three  clays.  I  told  a  party  who  I  thought  was  friendly  toward  me, 
but  he  carried  the  news  to  my  enemies,  and  when  I  met  the  assayer 
the  third  day  and  asked  him  when  he  would  have  the  assay  report,  he 
bluntly  repied  that  he  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it.  It  so 
offended  me  that  I  wrote  out  a  statement  to  the  effect  that  the  ore 
had  been  intentionally  under-assayed,  giving  the  figures  of  the 
assays,  names  of  the  assayers,  and  paid  for  its  publication  in  a 
Redding  daily.  I  gave  the  assayers  a  reasonable  time  in  which  to 
defend  themselves,  and  upon  their  failure  to  do  so  I  again  had 
published  the  lesult  of  my  own  test  (10  cents  an  ounce),  and  that  of 
my  neighbor's  ($4000  per  ton).  Still  the  assayers  were  "mum," 
although  they  could  have  made  a  serious  case  against  me  in  the 
courts  if  they  had  made  honest  assays.  But  I  had  not  the  slightest 
fear  of  prosecution. 

I  completed  the  work  of  field  deputy  and,  that  being  campaign 
year,  I  went  to  a  town  in  the  county,  started  a  campaign  paper  and 
had  the  printing  done  in  Redding. 

Meantime,  I  gave  two  Redding  men  a  working  bond  on  the 
mine,  agreeing  to  give  them  seven-sixteenths  interest  to  place  the 
mine  on  a  commercial  basis.  They  employed  some  miners  and  work 
began.  They  undoubtedly  took  out  very  rich  ore,  but  it  was  assayed 
down  to  nearly  nothing.  They  continued  to  sink  the  shaft  and  I  to 
run  the  paper  until  after  the  election  early  in  November,  when  I 
returned  to  Redding. 

I  had  talked  to  a  party  who  resides  at  the  town  where  I  ran  the 
paper  about  buying  out  the  working  bond  of  the  parties  who  were 
beginning  to  get  discouraged,  and  he  decided  to  come  and  examine 
the  property.  He  came,  and  took  home  with  him  a  piece  of  the  ore. 
Upon  his  arrival  home,  he  talked  with  a  photographer  about  the 
proposition  and  showed  him  the  piece  of  ore.  The  photographer  said 
he  could  test  it,  and  to  do  so  broke,  up  a  small  piece  of  it  and  treated 
it  to  nitro-muriatic  acid.  He  then  made  a  toning  table  and  tested  it. 
The  picture  was  perfectly  developed.  As  it  takes  3  cents  in  gold  in  the 
bath  to  develop  a  picture,  the  photographer  could  make  a  rough  esti- 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  21 

mate  of  the  value  of  the  ore,  which  he  pronounced  very  high  grade. 

This  excited  my  friend,  who  arrived  on  the  early  morning  train 
at  about  sunrise  to  tell  me  about  it.  I  knew  nothing  about  photog- 
raphy, but  when  he  told  me  the  process  I  decided  at  once  to  try  it. 
He  went  up  to  the  mine,  and  I  filled  a  Castoria  bottle  full  of  the 
solution  prepared  from  the  ore,  and  went  to  one  of  the  photographers 
and  got  an  undeveloped  picture,  then  got  a  dish  from  an  adjoining 
restaurant,  filled  it  with  water  and  poured  in  about  a  tablespoon ful 
of  the  solution.  Upon  immersing  the  picture  I  noticed  that  it  showed 
the  outlines  of  a  picture,  but  quickly  faded  white.  I  took  it  to  the 
photographer  for  information.  He  asked  me  what  I  had,  and  I  told 
him,  whereupon  he  remarked  that  I  had  used  too  much  gold  and,  at 
that  rate,  I  must  have  about  $35  in  the  bottle.  He  asked  me  about  the 
mine  and  if  I  would  sell  it,  and  when  I  told  him  I  would,  he  asked  me 
to  remain  there  a  few  minutes  and  he  would  go  and  wire  a  mining 
man  to  come.  He  wired  to  one  in  Nevada  and  one  in  San  Francisco, 
but  their  engagements  hindered  them  from  comnig.  He  was  surely 
excited,  and  said  that  I  undoubtedly  had  a  rich  mine. 

I  went  at  once  to  one  of  the  parties  holding  the  working  bond 
and  bought  him  out.  Then  three  photographers,  a  prominent  drug- 
gist and  another  party  purchased  altogether  seven-sixteenths  interest 
in  the  mine,  paying  $55  per  sixteenth.  Then  we  arranged  to  rush 
the  work,  all  laboring  under  excitement.  We  employed  two  miners 
and  three  of  the  company  assisted  in  sinking  the  shaft.  We  took  out 
some  magnificent  ore,  but  the  assayers  assayed  it  below  paying  point. 
The  ore  was  sent  to  assayers  at  a  distance  with  like  results.  All  of 
which  goes  to  prove  how  thoroughly  mining  interests  are  combined 
and  so  hedged  about  that  when  mining  men  start  a  boycott  there  is 
no  way  out  of  it  for  the  victim. 

As  there  was  at  that  time  nothing  known  to  the  chemistry  of 
photography  but  gold  that  would  tone  a  picture  by  the  gold  process, 
the  photographers  could  practically  determine  the  value  of  the  ore. 

We  worked  up  to  December  31st,  and  that  night  twenty-two 
inches  of  snow  fell  on  the  level,  which  permanently  suspended  the 
work.  Again  I  was  left  alone  with  my  two  little  boys  in  a  cabin  to 
fight  it  out  as  best  I  could  with  all  the  odds  against  me. 

During  the  winter  I  went  across  the  river  prospecting  and 
located  a  claim.  I  went  to  work  with  the  prospect  of  taking  out  a 
"bunch"  or  "pocket."  I  put  in  several  months'  hard  work  there,  took 
out  some  splendid  ore,  but  I  was  again  "hoodooed"  by  the  assayers. 
Long,  weary  months  of  toil  to  no  purpose,  and  I  now  wonder  how 
1  could  have  the  courage,  energy  and  enthusiasm  to  go  through  it  all. 
My  boys  were  well  cared  for  and  had  lessons  from  me  that  few,  if 
any,  fathers  are  capable  of  teaching. 


22  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

About  this  time  De  Lamar's  expert,  who  had  just  examined  the 
Bully  Hill  mine  and  reported  favorably,  dropped  into  Redding.  His 
name  was  Beula  (I  am  not  sure  I  spell  his  name  correctly),  and 
I  happened  to  meet  him  in  advance  of  any  "knocking."  I  showed  him 
a  fine  specimen  of  solidly  mineralized  ore,  and  at  a  glance  he  was 
thrown  into  excitement  he  made  no  apparent  effort  to  conceal.  He 
asked  me  how  far  away  the  location,  how  deep  to  the  ore  body,  how 
wide,  and  when  I  told  him  he  remarked  that  he  represented  De 
Lamar  and  that,  upon  examination,  if  he  could  pass  upon  the  mine 
favorably,  he  would  make  a  spot  cash  offer,  as  De  Lamar  never  took 
a  bond  on  mining  property.  The  following  morning  was  fixed  as  the 
time  when  he  could  go  and  examine  the  property,  and  accordingly  he 
was  on  hand  anxious  to  see  the  mine.  From  the  drift  of  his  talk  it 
was  clear  that  he  had  been  "knocked,"  not  as  to  the  value  of  the  mine, 
for  he  was  an  expert,  but  as  to  my  poverty  and  the  certainty  of 
being  able  to  purchase  it  at  a  small  figure. 

After  the  examination  and  our  return,  he  said  he  would  see  me 
later,  and  went  to  the  hotel.  The  fourth  day  he  sent  a  man  to  make 
me  an  offer  of  $20,000,  which  I  promptly  turned  down,  remarking 
that  he  could  have  it  for  $75,000,  and  that  would  be  practically  giving 
it  away.  He  remained  in  town  for  months,  hoping  and  expecting  that 
I  finally  would  take  his  offer.  And  I  would  have  taken  his  offer  only 
that  I  felt  he  would  make  a  better  one.  And  he  would  have  done  so, 
I  still  believe,  only  for  the  influence  of  my  enemies. 

At  this  time  I  had  but  one  partner,  who  had  seven-sixteenths 
interest,  the  others  all  dropping  out,  one  from  discouragement,  and 
the  others  from  the  evident  reason  that  they  had  gotten  a  "hunch" 
as  to  the  true  value  of  the  ore,  but  could  do  nothing  with  their 
interests  so  long  as  I  held  the  controlling  interest.  Two  of  them  tried 
much  "funny  business,"  but  their  methods  were  transparent.  At 
length  they  sold  their  interests  for  a  few  dollars,  and  the  last  I  heard 
of  them  they  were  tramp  photographers. 

I  will  here  state  that  I  am  now  the  sole  owner  of  that  mine,  and 
if  any  mining  man  who  is  looking  for  a  big  mine  wishes  to  get  in 
touch  with  me  on  a  leasing  or  bonding  proposition,  address  me  at 
Stockton,  California. 

It  is  needless  to  go  into  further  details.  This  book  was  written 
at  Redding  after  returning  from  six  months'  development  work  on  a 
gold  mine  a  few  miles  from  Redding,  consisting  of  forty  acres  of 
ground  which  a  partner  and  myself  hold  by  a  deed.  It  consists  of  a 
large  body  of  gold-bearing  ore  with  shoots  of  high-grade  ore  and,  for 
500  feet  wide,  would  pay  to  mine  from  the  grass  roots  down.  There 
are  at  least  300  tons  of  ore  on  the  dumps,  much  of  it  high-grade. 
Notwithstanding  that  samples  have  been  taken  by  mining  men  from 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

the  richest  places  where  one  can  demonstrate  with  a  gold  pan  its 
high  grade  in  free  gold,  those  pirates  have  the  calloused  impudence 
to  report  assays  "from  a  trace  to  $3.60  per  ton !"  That  mine  is  also 
on  the  market  at  a  reasonable  price  on  easy  terms. 

That  little  2x4  pygmies  would  try  to  palm  off  such  "raw" 
schemes  on  one  who  had  gone  through  a  rich  experience  on  a  big- 
proposition  with  some  of  the  shrewdest  promoters  and  financiers  in 
the  world  would  be  amusing  if  it  was  not  serious.  I  find  men-well 
up  in  wealth  and  position  who  are  "mutts"  pure  and  simple.  But  they 
are  inflated  with  self-importance  and,  because  of  their  wealth  or 
position,  have  no  better  sense  than  to  estimate  a  man's  ability  by  the 
dollar  standard.  Having  so  little  real  intelligence,  they  have  no 
standard  by  which  to  measure  the  intelligence  of  other  men,  and  so 
they  try  to  work  their  "half-baked  skin  games"  on  all  men  alike. 

In  conclusion,  I  will  say  that  I  hold  no  grudge  against  Redding 
as  a  community.  My  old  enemies  who  endeavored  to  beat  me  out 
of  my  old  mining  property  and,  failing  in  that,  opened  among 
assayers  and  smelters  a  general  boycott,  are  either  dead  or  "poor  as  a 
church  mouse."  The  black  hand  of  retribution  was  against  them  and 
they  could  not  prosper. 

On  behalf  of  Shasta  county,  I  have  nothing  but  praise.  It  is 
undoubtedly  the  richest  county  in  the  state  in  extent  and  variety  of 
resources.  Its  mineral  deposits  are  vast  and  90  per  cent  undeveloped. 
Nearly  every  known  metal  may  be  found  there  in  paying  quantities. 
Gold  mining  is  scarcely  in  its  infancy.  The  county  is  badly  in  need 
of  real  mining  men,  and  intelligent  and  experienced  prospectors. 


THE  FUNDAMENTAL  ERROR. 


How  Sin  Came  Into  the  World 

At  the  very  outset  I  will  state  that  I  am  not  an  infidel  in  the 
extreme  meaning  of  the  term  which  regards  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments as  "framed-up"  for  the  purpose  of  holding  the  masses  in 
ignorant  servilance  to  kings,  rulers  and  capitalists.  But  I  do  affirm 
that  the  Bible  bears  unmistakable  evidence  of  having  been  written  by 
men  and  of  men  who  had  no  conception  of  the  philosophy  of  human 
government  and  were  utterly  unaware  of  the  fact  that  the  abuse  of 
power  by  kings  and  rulers,  and  perverted  institutions  of  government, 
were  responsible  for  rill  the  sins,  abuses,  evils,  vices  and  crimes  that 
prevailed  from  the  beginning  of  Bible  history  to  the  crucifixion. 


24  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

Moreover,  those  Bible  characters  knew  nothing  of  the  science  of 
human  nature  as  demonstrated  by  phrenology,  or  of  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  the  law  of  heredity. 

From  a  cause  for  which  we  cannot  attach  the  blame  to  the  first 
parents  of  the  human  race,  they  adopted  private  ownership,  and  in 
the  very  brief  history  cf  the  human  family,  as  given  in  Genesis,  from 
the  creation  to  the  flood,  it  is  recorded  that  "God  saw7  the  wickedness 
of  man  was  great  on  this  earth,  and  that  every  imagination  of  the 
thoughts  of  the  heart  was  only  evil  continually.  And  it  repented  the 
Lord  that  he  had  made  man  on  the  earth  and  it  grieved  Him  at  His 
heart."  And  here  begins  the  story  of  the  flood. 

After  the  flood  begins  the  history  of  kings  and  rulers  who  kept 
the  masses  in  awe  and  reverence,  believing  in  their  dense  ignorance 
that  kings  ruled  by  divine  right.  Under  what  may  be  termed  feud- 
alism, there  was  no  such  thing  as  an  economic  system.  The  ruler 
held  the  masses  in  industrial  servitude  which  gave  him  practical 
ownership  of  all  the  wealth  and,  with  the  people  looking  up  to  him 
as  an  inspired  ruler,  his  word  was  law  whether  written  or  spoken. 

Although  the  New  Testament  supplants  the  Old,  history  takes 
up  the  story  of  the  conquest  of  rulers  for  spoils,  and  for  centuries 
and,  indeed,  until  very  recent  years,  the  claim  to  rulership  by  divine 
right  was  unquestioned  by  the  ignorant  subjects.  The  dark  ages 
followed  long  after  the  crucifixion  when  the  human  family  was 
plunged  into  a  long  night  of  ignorance  and  superstition. 

Finally  dissensions  from  the  Catholic  church  that  had  grown 
rich,  powerful  and  corrupt  threw  the  nations  of  Europe  into  a  reign 
of  bigotry  and  intolerance  that  resulted  in  disastrous  wars.  Cen- 
turies later  when  the  Protestant  churches  became  sufficiently  power- 
ful to  compete  with  the  Catholic  church,  the  people  through  the 
growth  of  religious  liberty,  became  more  enlightened  and  self  asser- 
tive which  brought  about  changes  in  governments  more  tolerant  of 
the  demand  for  a  greater  degree  of  personal  liberty.  Thus,  feud- 
alism gradually  gave  way  to  competition  which  brought  into  exist- 
ence an  economic  and  industrial  system  that  hastened  the  develop- 
ment of  capitalism  which  is  now  the  prevailing  system  the  world  over. 
The  earliest  Bible  record  of  private  ownership  may  be  found 
in  Genesis,  chapter  4,  verse  2 :  "And  Abel  was  a  keeper  of  sheep,  but 
Cain  was  a  tiller  of  the  ground."  Also  the  first  crime  recorded  in 
verse  8:  "Cain  rose  up  against  his  brother  and  slew  him."  In 
Genesis  chapter  13,  verse  2 :  "And  Abram  was  very  rich  in  cattle, 
in  silver  and  in  gold." 

Next  comes  the  record  of  wars.     Deuteronomy,  chapter  2  and 
verses  30  to  36.     "But  Sihon,  King  of   Hasbon   would   not   let   us 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  25 

pass  by  him;  for  the  Lord  thy  God  hardened  his  spirit,  and  made  his 
heart  obstinate,  that  he  might  deliver  him  into  thy  hand.  And  the 
Lord  said  unto  me,  behold,  I  begun  to  give  Sihon  and  his  land  before 
thee :  begin  to  possess,  that  them  may  inherit  his  land.  Then  Sihon 
came  out  against  us,  he  and  all  his  people,  to  fight  at  Jahaz.  And  the 
Lord  our  God  delivered  him  before  us;  and  we  smote  him,  and  his 
sons,  and  his  people.  And  we  took  all  his  cities  at  that  time,  and 
utterly  destroyed  the  men,  and  the  women,  and  the  little  oues^  of 
every  city,  we  left  none  to  remain.  Only  the  cattle  we  took  for  a 
prey  unto  ourselves,  and  the  spoil  of  the  cities  which  we  took."^ 

Also  chapter  3,  verses  2  to  9.  Read  them  and  note  that  these 
atrocities  are  a  part  of  the  history  of  Moses,  "the  Law  Giver."  Turn 
to  Joshua,  chapter  11,  and  note  that  Joshua  did  as  Moses,  "servant 
of  the  Lord,"  commanded. 

It  is  needless  to  cite  further  references  to  wars  as  recorded  in 
the  Old  Testament.  They  are  so  numerous  that  it  would  be  as  well 
for  the  reader  to  look  them  up;  and  note  that  those  merciless  wars 
were  instigated  by  kings  and  rulers  for  spoils — one  nation  or  tribe 
literally  massacreing  the  people  of  another  and  taking  possession  of 
their  wealth.  It  will  be  noted  that  the  people  toiled  or  waged  fierce 
wars  at  the  bidding  of  rulers  who,  they  believed,  ruled  by  divine 
right.  .  ,  • 

Solomon  was  the  shining  example  of  the  wanton  profligacy 
of  rulers.  As  king,  his  record  shows  a  shameless  disregard  for  the 
freedom  and  rights  of  the  people.  He  used  them  as  he  saw  fit,  even 
to  adopting  a  system  of  wholesale  adultery  without  a  parallel  in 
history.  Just  out  of  vain  curiosity,  he  tried  the  experiment  of  lavish 
extravagance,  such  as  characterized  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV,  using 
thousands  of  people  as  servants  to  toil  for  him  at  his  bidding.  He 
stated  plainly  that  his  purpose  was  to  go  the  limit  in  trying  out  every 
imaginable  project  from  being  a  privileged  libertine  to  surrounding 
his  harem  with  splendor  and  display  hitherto  unknown  to  any  ruler. 
And  he  had  built  a  k 'temple  of  worship,"  that,  for  extravagant  archi- 
tecture and  adorning,  was  a  marvel  of  workmanship,  and  stood  for 
centuries  a  monument  to  the  stupidity  of  an  enslaved  people.  He 

*Here  the  foundation  was  laid,  and  the  religious  precedent  established, 
for  the  long  reign  of  feudalism  throughout  which  the  masses  were  kept  in 
servitude  and  slavery  under  the  injunction,  "Servants,  obey  your  masters/' 
which,  in  their  rlense  ignorance,  they  believed  was  the  comandment  of  (iod 
who  bestowed  upon  rulers  the  prerogative  to  rule  by  divine  right.  The 
aw  1'u I  massacres  of  men.  women  and  children  to  satisfy  the  greed  and  ambi- 
tion of  rulers  who  used  their  willing  subjects  to  perpetrate  such  attroritii-s 
as  religious  duty,  were  sins  which  make  the  story  of  the  fall  of  man  (hrough 
the  disobedience  of  Adam  and  Eve  appear  as  a  pleasing  fairy  talc. 


26  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

tried  a  number  of  projects,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  each  effort  to 
satisfy  his  majesty's  desire  to  become  happy,  he  saw  no  pleasure  in  it 
all,  and  exclaimed :  "Behold,  all  is  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit." 
Poor  king!  Too  bad  he  could  not  make  himself  happy  at  the  cost  of 
the  manhood  and  womanhood  of  his  poor,  miserable  subjects.  Too 
bad ! 

Now,  it  requires  no  argument  to  prove  that  feudalism  was  the 
outgrowth  of  private  ownership,  and  competition  the  outgrowth  of 
feudalism,  and  finally,  capitalism  the  legitimate  offspring  of  compe- 
tition. 

Under  feudalism,  land  was  held  by  feudal  lords  and  continued 
to  be  the  property  of  rulers  and  the  royal  family  long  after  feud- 
alism merged  into  competition,  and  continues  to  be  so  held  in  some 
nations  to  this  day  of  boasted  enlightenment. 

Under  more  liberal  forms  of  government,  land  is  sold  to  private 
purchasers,  or  given  away  by  franchises  or  subsides  to  corporations, 
the  self  constituted  government  having  no  title  in  fact,  yet  protects 
purchasers  and  corporations  by  the  powerful  machinery  of  govern- 
ment. 

In  all  cases,  might  makes  right  and  whether  just  or  unjust,  title 
to  land  is  made  under  the  guise  of  laws  purely  artificial  and  without 
the  authority  of  nature  or  nature's  God.  Nowhere  in  the  annals  of 
history  or  in  the  Bible  is  there  a  single  instance  of  record  in  which 
title  to  a  single  foot  of  soil  was  held  by  grant  or  deed  from  the 
Creator  as  private  property. 

A  title  to  land  that  would  stand  the  test  of  abstract  justice  would 
bear  the  signature  of  the  owner  of  the  earth  with  the  great  seal  of 
the  universe  affixed.  Have  you  any  such  deed?  Don't  all  speak  at 
once! 

In  this  last  analysis,  title  to  private  ownership  of  land  is  as 
much  without  justification  as  title  to  the  air  we  breathe.  Both  air 
and  land  are  indispensable  to  the  sustenance  of  life.  One  is  as  essen- 
tial as  the  other  and,  under  the  competitive  system,  both  alike  would 
be  held  by  private  ownership  were  it  not  for  the  instability  of  air. 
Given  the  power  to  create  a  vacuum  around  the  landless,  it  will  not 
be  denied  that  the  land  monopolists  would  establish  rates  for  air  and 
exact  pay  for  same  as  is  done  for  gas  and  water. 

It  is  through  land  monolopy  that  millions  are  rendered  homeless 
and  dependent.  It  is  the  parent  monopoly  of  all  monopolies.  Given 
access  to  the  soil  which  is  the  only  source  of  independent  subsistance, 
and  other  monopolies  could  not  exist,  for  the  reason  that  their  exist- 
ence depends  wholly  upon  the  helplessness  of  the  homeless. 

Verily,  "man's  inhumanity  to  man  makes  countless  thousands 
mourn."  Why?  Why  man's  inhumanity  to  man?  Surely,  among 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  27 

the  more  civilized  nations  man  would  not  be  guilty  of  inhumanity  to 
his  kind  without  some  reasons  that  would  have  at  least  the  appearance 
of  justification.  And  here  is  the  reason  that  has  not  the  slightest 
appearance  of  justification.  Through  private  ownership,  a  class  of 
men  whose  sole  purpose  in  life  is  to  acquire  wealth,  create  monop- 
olies, first  land  monopoly,  then  the  rest  is  easy.  No  trick  to  acquire 
and  hold  a  monopoly  of  the  facilities  of  production  and  distribution. 
From  this  cause  millions  rendered  homeless,  become  tramps,  vaga- 
bonds, criminals,  with  always  an  army  in  enforced  idleness  and  half 
starving.  The  producers  of  wealth  are  exploited  and  the  consumers 
robbed  by  exorbitant  profits  levied  by  the  captains  of  industry  and 
middlemen  on  the  necessaries  of  life.  Nearly  everyone  becomes 
selfish  and  sordid,  and  millions  become  downright  dishonest. 

The  world  was  thus  submerged  in  iniquity  and  sin  when  Christ 
came,  although  long  before  it  was  related  that  mankind  was  so 
wicked  that  it  became  necessary  to  wipe  all  but  Noah  and  his  family 
'from  the  face  of  the  earth  with  a  flood  and  repopulate,  sorry  to  say, 
with  no  better  results.  Indeed,  commercialism  had  reached  a  point 
at  Christ's  coming  that  would  brook  no  interference,  and  because 
Christ  was  "hurting  business"  by  his  teachings,  threatening  to  over- 
throw the  corrupt  condition  into  which  capitalism  had  submerged 
the  Roman  Empire,  he  was  crucified,  together  with  all  his  apostles. 

Less  notable  was  the  martyrdom  of  Socrates  whose  great  moral 
teachings  were  also  "hurting  business."  Thousands,  indeed,  have 
suffered  martyrdom  for  asserting  their  independence  of  church  and 
state.  Even  in  the  boasted  enlightenment  of  the  present  time  there 
is  a  host  of  men  who  dare  not  assert  their  belief  in  Socialism  for  fear 
of  the  boycott — a  sort  of  refined  martyrdom. 

Let  us  pause  and  ask,  when  and  how  sin  came  into  the  world? 
I  have  pointed  out  some  of  the  greatest  sins  committed,  and  have 
showed  the  fundamental  cause  to  be  private  ownership,  which  is 
responsible  for  all  the  evils,  abuses,  crimes  and  iniquity  that  have 
cursed  humanity  since  Cain  murdered  Abel. 

Indeed,  we  are  adding  to  the  same  old  history  of  devastating 
wars,  for  even  now  as  I  write,  all  Europe  is  in  the  throes  of  the 
bloodiest  and  most  destructive  war  ever  waged  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  History  repeating  itself  over  and  over  in  grewsome  mon- 
otony, recording  the  rise  and  fall  of  empires;  the  weary  toil  and  priv- 
ation of  the  struggling  masses — the  burden  bearers  of  all  the  ages — 
the  poverty  and  industrial  servitude  of  the  producers  of  all  wealth, 
and  the  shameless  uses  to  which  that  wealth  is  appropriated.  Turn 
back  the  pages  of  history  to  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV  and  note  the 
lavish  extravagance  of  that  ruler.  His  court  and  palaces  so  dazzled 


28  A  SttJMBRRING  VOLCANO 

all  Europe  that  its  rulers  endeavored  to  pattern  after  the  shameless 
extravagance.  His  court  and  palaces  were  adorned  until  they  shone 
with  dazzling  splendor,  in  the  midst  of  which  gilded  vices  and  licen- 
tiousness, vile  and  vicious,  were  veiled  by  pomp  and  splendor.  His 
palaces  alone  cost  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  and  15,000  royal 
hummers  were  kept  in  luxurious  idleness. 

Turn  back  the  pages  of  history,  back  to  Egypt,  to  its  earliest 
settlement — back  to  the  building  of  the  pyramids — back,  so  remote 
that  the  archeologist  translates  history  from  the  buried  ruins  of  once 
luxurious  cities  forty  centuries  gone  by — from  the  ruins  of  vast 
temples  of  marvelous  architecture — from  relics  rich,  rare  and  costly 
as  adorns  the  modern  courts  and  palaces  of  Europe.  They  all  tell 
the  same  old  story  of  the  industrial  bondage  of  the  masses  to  pre- 
datory and  self  constituted  rulers  whose  subjects  believed  that  they 
ruled  by  divine  right.* 

Do  yon  ask  when  and  how  sin  came  into  the  world?  What  a 
foolish  question!  Sin  is  wrong-doing — departing  from  the  path  of 
rectitude.  Very  well,  do  people,  as  a  rule,  go  wrong  from  choice — 
for  "pure  cussedness?"  Or  is  it  caused  by  perverted  economic  and 
industrial  conditions?  Few  people  become  criminals  from  choice, 
and  those  few  are  the  victims  of  the  law  of  heredity  which  places  the 
cause  back  to  the  bad  environment  of  their  parents. 

It  may  be  noted  that  here  in  the  United  States  as  economic  and 
industrial  conditions  grow  worse,  our  jails,  penitentiaries  and  asyl- 
ums are  over-crowding  with  inmates.  Greed,  intensified  by  the 
competitive  struggle  for  gain,  is  the  cause.  The  professions  and 
trades  are  overcrowding  and  many  are  tempted  to  take  some  des- 
perate advantage  which  lands  them  in  jail.  Thousands  in  all  walks 
of  life  are  so  tempted,  and  in  all  cases  they  justify  their  course  by 
affirming  that  the  big  grafters  are  literally  robbing  the  people  and 
that,  therefore,  it  no  longer  pays  to  be  honest. 


*Conring  on  down  to  the  causes  which  provoked  the  French  Revolution, 
we  find  that  the  despotic  greed  of  the  French  nobility  became  exasperating 
mid  at  length  unbearable.  The  French  subjects  had  become  more  enlightened 
and  had  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  light  of  human  liberty.  The  writings  op 
Voltaire,  who  had  become  savagely  radical,  inflamed  the  desperate  subjects 
and,  having  no  deliverer  and  knowing  no  redress  for  the  atrocious  wrongs 
inflicted  upon  them,  they  arose  in  awful  fury  and,  like  blind  Sampson, 
pulled  the  pillars  of  the  temple  of  the  corrupt  empire  down  upon  the  heads 
(if  the  innocent  as  well  as  the  guilty.  This  terrible  tragedy  of  history  was 
'ml  an  incident  in  the  fierce  struggle  of  mankind  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of 
IViidal  oppression  founded  upon  the  religions  institution  which  maintained 
that  rulers  ruled  by  divine  right. 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  29 

In  the  mad  scramble  for  gain,  what  has  become  of  the  churches?' 
I. low  can  one  lead  the  life  of  an  upright  Christian  and  be  successful 
in  any  kind  of  business?  Why,  the  competitive  system  and  Christ- 
ianity are  at  daggers  points.  Competition  means  commercial  can- 
nibalism— Christianity  means  the  brotherhood  of  interests  both 
temporal  and  spiritual.  "Come  out  from  among  them  and  be  ye 
separate,  sayeth  the  Lord,"  means  to  come  out  from  among  sinners  in 
order  to  be  a  Christian. 

Christ  was  not  a  Socialist.  He  advocated  no  form  of  political 
government.  His  doctrine  reached  far  beyond  all  temporal  govern- 
ment. His  doctrine  and  teachings  are  non-political  and  purely 
theistic.  There  is  no  hint  of  the  principles  of  Socialism  between  the 
lids  of  the  Bible.  As  a  political  and  economic  system,  it  cannot  claim 
divine  sanction  from  the  authority  of  the  Old  or  New  Testament. 
Adam  and  Eve  were  not  admonished  by  the  Lord  to  adopt  a  system 
of  co-operation  when  He  commanded  them  to  go  forth  to  populate 
and  subdue  the  earth. 

Socialism,  as  a  system  of  government,  is  of  purely  human  origin, 
gradually  assuming  form  after  centuries  of  industrial  and,  in  many 
cases,  chattel  bondage  of  the  masses  of  mankind.  Socialism,  as 
understood  and  advocated  today,  came  up  through  much  tribulation 
— centuries  of  "man's  inhumanity  to  man" — so  sickening  in  its 
recitals  as  to  turn  one  from  history  in  amazement  and  disgust.  We 
wonder  why  some  master  mind  did  not  discover  and  proclaim  the 
principles  of  co-operation  centuries  ago,  even  when  Greece  was  the 
seat  of  learning,  or  "Rome,  from  her  seven  hills  of  beauty,  ruled  the 
world." 

And  now  we  come  to  the  vital  point  of  discussion.  It  has  been 
shown,  which,  indeed,  should  be  patent  to  a  man  with  even  a  skull 
full  of  fine  sand.,  that  sin,  with  all  its  hideous  enormities,  was  ushered 
in  at  the  first  adoption  by  the  human  family  of  private  ownership 
under  feudalism,  and  later  passing  from  competition  into  capitalism. 
\Yc  find  that  from  some  cause,  the  human  family  at  the  very  outset 
adopted  that  system  which  has  obtained  through  all  the  ages  to  the 
present  time. 

The  question  is,  where  shall  we  place  the  responsibility  for  the 
adoption  of  private  ownership  and  competition — the  parent  of  sin 
and  all  iniquities?  If  the  human  mind  was  so  constituted  that  it 
would  drift  into  that  system,  as  a  duck  takes  to  water,  then  the 
responsibility  must  rest  with  the  creator  of  the  human  mind,  who- 
ever or  whatever  that  creator  may  be.  Man  himself  could  not  in 
justice  be  held  responsible  for  obeying  his  inclinations  when  he  knew 


30  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

no  better  way,  and  was  in  no  way  warned  or  admonished  to  turn 
from  a  system  that  even  human  intelligence  now  knows  must  inevit- 
ably and  unavoidably  lead  to  disastrous  results. 

Christ  came  to  redeem  the  world  from  sin,  but  he  left  untouched 
the  temporal  cause  of  sin,  and  for  nearly  twenty  centuries  his  doctrine 
and  competition  have  been  at  daggers'  points,  with  the  odds  decidedly 
in  favor  of  the  old  sin  creating  system.  Indeed,  the  greatest  calami- 
ties of  history  resulted  from  religious  disputes,  prejudices  and  intol- 
erance. It  has  even  been  claimed  that  more  harm  has  resulted  from 
the  introduction  of  Christianity  than  good.  Be  that  as  it  may,  one 
fact  is  clear,  and  that  is,  the  efforts  to  introduce  the  doctrine  of 
Christianity  were  attended  by  disasters  due  to  the  conflict  waged 
against  the  innovation  of  a  doctrine  that  threatened  to  overthrow  well 
entrenched  capitalism  with  all  its  nefarious  and  abominable  institu- 
tions. Those  efforts  to  found  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  ended  in 
tragedy,  and  after  the  last  apostle  had  been  crucified,  there  was  a 
long  silence  to  be  broken  by  the  establishment  of  a  self-constituted 
church  with  a  leader  claiming  to  have  possession  of  "the  keys  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.''  For  a  long  period  that  organization  grew 
and,  flushed  with  temporal  success,  became  corrupt  and  was  no thi no- 
more  than  sanctified  commercialism. 

Then  came  protests  which  found  followers,  and  a  reign  of  terror 
ensued.  Protestant  churches  finally  came  forth  from  the  awful  per- 
secutions, all  claiming  divine  sanction,  with  the  old  self-constituted 
church  still  in  the  lead.  And  all  are  now  dominated  by  commer- 
cialism, while  iniquity  abounds  as  it  did  when  Christ  first  proclaimed 
the  gospel  of  "peace  on  earth,  good  will  toward  men." 

Let  us  now  take  another  view  of  the  situation.  Let  us  suppose 
that  at  the  very  outset  the  human  family  had  adopted  the  co-opera- 
tive system,  and  let  us  suppose  that  when  Christ  came  he  would  have 
found  the  people  living  under  such  a  system.  Do  you  think  he  would 
have  been  crucified?  Think  you  he  would  have  been  reviled 
and  persecuted  ?  Do  you  think  that  a  people  living  in  harmony  under 
a  system  of  co-operation  would  have  rejected  the  teachings  of  Jesus 
Christ  ?  Any  sensible  person  knows  that  he  would  have  been  gladly 
received,  just  as  he  was  gladly  received  by  the  poor.  All  opposition 
to  his  teachings  came  from  the  "higher  ups,"  who  incited  the  mob  to 
violence. 

This  brings  us  broadside  against  a  tremendous  question — the 
question  of  placing  the  responsibility  for  the  existence  of  the  sins 
of  the  world.  If  the  economic  and  industrial  system  of  the  world  is 
so  perverted  as  to  encourage  rascality,  trickery,  treachery,  double- 
dealing  and  all  manner  of  nefarious  schemes  for  gain,  if  under  such 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  31 

a  system  vice  is  fed  while  virtue  starves — if  success  is  offered  as 
a  premium  on  rascality,  and  poverty  through  it  may  be  the  lot  of  the 
grandest  characters,  a  disgrace — then  upon  whom  or  what  does  thq 
responsibility  for  the  sins  of  the  world  rest  when  the  sinner  is  help- 
less under  the  system  for  the  existence  of  which  he  is  in  no  way 
responsible?  For  I  have  shown  that  the  responsibility  for  the 
existence  of  the  system  dates  back  to  the  very  beginning,  and  there  we 
find  mankind  adopting  private  ownership  as  a  duck  takes  to  the 
water.  Who,  then,  is  responsible  for  all  the  sins  of  the  world  from 
the  beginning.  Individually  and  collectively? 

Reader,  I  leave  you  to  draw  your  own  conclusion.  I  am  not  an 
infidel,  but  I  must  confess  that  I  am  wandering  in  a  maze  of  doubt 
and  uncertainty.  One  thing  I  do  know,  and  that  is,  I  am  firmly 
grounded  in  my  faith  in  Social  Democracy.  Let  us  adopt  it, 
brethren,  and  then  we  will  be  sure  there  will  be  vastly  fewer  sins  to 
answer  for  "in  the  day  of  judgment,"  no  matter  who  must  answer 
for  them. 

One  proposition  is  self-evident  and  that  is,  "thy  will  be  done 
on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,"  is  an  imposibility  under  the  competitive 
system.  The  christianization  of  the  world  is  utterly  impossible  under 
a  cut-throat  system  of  government  and  .economics.  The  odds  are  so 
overwhelmingly  against  every  principle  of  Christianity  as  to  render 
all  efforts  to  Christianize  commercial  barbarians  and  cannibals 
abortive.  Prevailing  high-handed  business  methods  and  practice 
are  so  at  variance  from  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  as  to  make 
Christ's  teachings  appear  ridiculous. 

It  would  appear  then,  to  be  an  utter  imposibility  to  Christianize 
the  world  under  the  competitive  system.  The  first  thought  that 
comes  uppermost,  then,  is  the  question  as  to  why  an  effort  should 
have  been  made  to  accomplish  an  impossibility?  Nowhere  between 
the  lids  of  the  Bible  can  be  found  the  slightest  intimation  that  any 
other  political  or  economic  system  could  or  should  exist  excepting 
that  which  had  existed  from  the  beginning.  The  Old  Testament 
founded  the  doctrine  of  the  "divine  right  of  kings"  to  rule,  and  the 
New  Testament  nowhere  condemns  the  competitive  systems  as  such, 
even  Christ  recognizing  the  right  of  Caesar  to  rule.  He  in  no 
instance  condemned  the  political  and  economical  system  as  being 
responsible  for  "the  sins  of  the  world,"  but  endeavored  to  Christ- 
ianize under  that  system,  which  the  incidents  of  history  since  the 
creation  prove  to  be  an  impossibility. 

"Come  out  from  among  them  and  be  ye  separate,  saith  the 
Lord,"  meant  to  gather  into  Christian  communities  and  live  together 
in  brotherly  love  wherein  temporal  laws  would  be  unnecessary.  To 


32  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

mount  at  a  single  bound  to  human  perfection  from  commercial  can- 
nibalism, which  had  been  steeped  into  humanity  by  usage,  tradition 
and  heredity  since  the  beginning,  is  a  dream.  My  knowledge  of 
human  nature  prompts  me  to  say  that  that  is  an  impossibility.  An 
effort  was  made  during  the  apostolic  age  to  accomplish  that  purpose, 
but  two  were  striken  dead  for  lying  about  giving  over  all  of  their 
belongings  to  the  Christian  community.  You  see,  they  were 
evidently  mistrustful  and  decided  to  leave  a  little  stake  out  of  the  deal 
in  case  of  emergency.  Like  everyone  even  to  this  day,  they  were 
thoroughly  soaked  with  the  old  system  through  heredity  and  the 
habits  of  life  that  they  could  not  cut  loose  from  the  temporal  and 
hold  fast  to  the  spiritual. 

Regeneration  is  of  slow  development  and,  to  be  permanent, 
must  be  laid  deep  in  the  inner  consciousness  of  a  humanity  freed 
from  the  curse  of  commercialism.  It  seems  to  me  the  teachings  of 
Christianity  deal  with  effects  rather  than  the  cause,  endeavoring  to 
abolish  sin  without  removing  the  cause.  If  you  tell  me  that  the 
system  itself  was  the  outgrowth  of  the  disobedience  of  Adam  and 
Eve,  and  that  the  system  was  inflicted  upon  them  as  a  chastisement, 
I  will  remind  you  of  the  injustice  of  a  decree  that  would  inflict  untold 
suffering,  misery,  want,  degradation,  bloodshed,  disaster,  havoc  and 
ruin  for  thousands  of  years  upon  an  innocent  progeny.  Am  I  right  ? 
If  so,  I  am  not  guilty  of  sacrilege.  If  you  think  I  am  wrong,  why, 
"you  have  to  show  me." 

What  I  have  said  elsewhere  in  this  book,  I  here  repeat:  Christ 
was  not  a  Socialist.  And  nowhere  between  the  lids  of  the  Bible  is 
there  to  be  found  the  slightest  reference  to  the  principles  of  Social- 
ism. Indeed,  not  an  author  of  a  book  of  the  Bible,  or  a  prophet  or 
patriarch  of  old,  seemed  to  realize  that  the  human  family  had  adopted 
and  was  adhering  to  a  political  and  economic  system  that  was  the 
direct  cause  of  practically  all  the  sins  they  were  trying  to  abolish 
without  removing  the  cause.  (Something  like  the  Keeley  cure,  with 
the  saloons  licensed  and  running  wide  open.) 

In  conclusion  I  will  add  that  the  story  of  the  fall  of  man, 
through  the  disobedience  of  Adam  and  Eve,  has  been  used  as  a  shield 
for  private  ownership,  the  profit  system,  competition,  capitalism  and 
commercialism  quite  long  enough,  and  should  be  torn  away  to  reveal 
the  archdemon  and  creator  of  all  sin  in  his  hideous  nakedness.  Plain 
speaking  is  always  commendable.  I  have  no  doubt  that  man,  along 
with  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms,  deteriorated,  and  that 
evolution  means  restoration  through  the  operation  of  the  law  of 
heredity  to  the  former  perfection.  Moreover,  I  am  sure  that  the 
cause  of  the  deterioration  of  man  was  the  cut-throat  system  he 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  33 

adopted  at  the  beginning-  and  persistently  maintained  to  the  present 
time.  I  am  sure  that  under  a  co-operative  system  the  human  family 
today  would  be  highly  civilized  and,  through  an  enlightened  treat- 
ment of  animals  and  plants,  they  would  not  have  deteriorated.  For 
instance,  the  horse,  cow,  sheep,  hog,  poultry,  etc.,  would  have  been 
superior  to  the  finest  strains  we  have  today,  and  Luther  Burbank 
would  never  have  been  heard  of  as  a  plant  wizard. 

Reader,  if  you  think  it  possible  to  Christianize  the  world  under 
the  system,  read  this  remarkable  statement  which  appeared  in  the 
current  issue  of  the  Christian  Herald : 

"From  the  Christian  era  till  the  present  time,  as  statists  and 
historians  tell  us,  there  have  been  less  than  240  warless  years:  Up 
to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  it  was  roughly  computed 
that  nearly  seven  billion  men  had  died  in  battle  since  the  beginning 
of  recorded  history,  a  number  equal  to  almost  five  times  the  present 
estimated  population  of  the  globe." 


THE  BIBLE. 


\Vhen  1  began  to  write  this  book,  I  had  a  number  of  social, 
political,  economic  and  scientific  errors  in  mind  which  it  was  my 
purpose  to  expose,  but  the  fundamental  error  did  not  occur  to  me 
until  I  found  myself  in  a  tangle  of  errors  which  suggested  that 
underlying  all  was  one  from  which  all  other  errors  had  originated. 
I  began  at  once  to  trace  them  to  their  source.  As  it  was  said  that 
"all  roads  lead  to  Rome,"  so  I  found  that  all  errors  lead  to  the  fund- 
amental error  upon  which  all  governments  have  been  and  are 
founded.  I  was  far  from  delighted  to  find  that  I  must  tread  on 
sacred  ground  to  discover  the  origin  of  human  governments  as 
given  in  the  Old  Testament.  I  found  that  all  the  governments  of  the 
so-called  Christian  nations  of  the  world  originated  in  Moses'  day 
when  "might  made  right"  because  it  was  affirmed  that  God  not  only 
sanctioned  but  directed  the  movements  of  conquering  armies  that 
were  led  to  victory  through  merciless  slaughter  and  pillage. 

Here  originated  the  fundamental  error,  founded  upon  private 
ownership  of  all  wealth  and  by  divine  right,  held  by  rulers  and 
feudal  lords.  I  followed  that  error  from  its  inception  through  the 
Old  Testament,  and  on  through  all  the  incidents  of  history  I  had  in 
mind,  and  I  found  the  underlying  principle,  namely,  private  owner- 


34  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

ship,  threading  through  all  the  forms  of  governments  under  feud- 
alism, then  competition  and  now  capitalism  which  is  the  world-wide 
political  and  economic  system. 

It  has  always  been  my  policy  never  to  tear  down  where  I  could 
not  replace  with  a  better  structure,  which  has  prompted  me  in 
deprecating  the  spirit  of  infidelity  where  it  assailed  the  Bible  and 
Christianity  with  no  other  purpose  than  to  destroy  that  system  of 
religion  and  leave  the  wreckage  to  bewilder  and  demoralize  humanity 
for  all  time  to  come. 

I  am  aware  that  it  is  a  serious  matter  to  expose  the  fallacy  of  the 
disobedience  of  Adam  and  Eve  as  being  responsible  for  the  sins  of 
the  world,  since  the  concordance  so  interrelates  the  Old  and  the  New 
Testament  as  to  form  what  is  termed  "the  plan  of  salvation."  Accord- 
ing to  the  interpretation  by  all  the  churches,  the  Old  Testament  was 
the  forerunner  of  the  New,  foreshadowing  in  prophecies,  burnt 
offerings,  etc.,  the  coming  of  Christ. 

As  to  my  own  personal  convictions  which  are  based  on  profound 
investigation  from  every  angle,.  I  hold  that  the  Old  Testament 
should  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  Christ's  teachings  and 
example  which,  after  all,  constitute  the  sum  and  substance  of  prac- 
tical Christianity.  I  regard  all  else  between  the  lids  of  the  Bible  as 
history  and  mythology  that  pervert  rather  than  strengthen  one's  faith 
in  even  the  inspiration  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that, 
if  the  Old  Testament  had  never  been  translated  and,  in  the  transla- 
tion of  the  New  Testament,  cancelled  all  reference  to  it,  the  "plan  of 
salvation"  would  have  been  unassailable.  It  is  the  concordance  with 
the  Old  Testament  that  has  played  havoc  with  the  nations  of  the 
world  since  the  crucifixion.  By  implicating  the  Creator  as  the  insti- 
gator of  merciless  wars  for  pillage  and  plunder,  rulers  who  claimed 
from  Moses'  example  the  divine  right  to  rule,  laid  claim  to  that  right 
in  justifying  their  course  in  their  flagrant  abuse  of  power.  In- the 
Old  Testament  they  could  find  justification  for  merciless  oppression 
of  the  people,  for  barbarity  in  wars  and  even  for  crimes  if  perpetrated 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

In  recent  years  Brigham  Young  founded  the  Mormon  church 
in  Utah  largely  on  the  doctrines  of  the  Old  Testament  by  instituting 
the  practice  of  polygamy,  exacting  tithing  from  the  membership,  cov- 
enant marriages,  etc.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  "Mountain 
Meadow  Massacre"  was  perpetrated  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  Even 
as  I  write,  rulers  and  leaders  in  the  great  European  war  are  claiming 
that  they  have  the  help  of  the  Lord  to  lead  them  through  slaughter 
to  victory.  And  the  purpose  back  of  the  conflict  is  such  as  would 
shame  all  the  devils  in  the  old  orthodox  hell. 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  35 

I  say,  cut  out  the  Old  Testament,  revise  the  New  until  there  is 
not  left  the  slightest  reference  to  it  because  of  its  abominable  teach- 
ings; then  we  would  have  a  clean  Bible  that  would  be  spiritually 
uplifting. 


GRAVITATION  AND  OTHER  ERRORS. 


Sir  Isaac  Newton  was  a  great  mathematician,  but  not  a  phil- 
osopher. His  theory  of  gravitation  has  a  purely  mathemtaical  basis, 
which  itself  is  founded  upon  assumptions.  The  philosophy  of  grav- 
itation as  given  in  the  text  books  on  physics,  affords  no  proof  what- 
ever of  the  existence  of  gravitation.  The  philosophy  is  based  on  the 
absurd  assumption  that  rest  is  the  normal  condition  of  "matter" 
when,  in  fact,  there  is  no  such  condition  in  existence  as  rest.  Upon 
this  glaring  assumption  of  "rest,"  or  inertia,  rests  the  whole  mathe- 
matical superstructure  of  gravitation. 

I  hold  that  to  assume  a  "tendency"  to  a  condition  that  never 
existed  is  an  absurdity.  If,  as  we  are  taught,  there  is  no  such  con- 
dition as  rest,  then  it  follows  as  an  axiom  that  motion  is  the  normal 
and  self-evident  condition  of  what  we  term  "matter."  Now,  if  that 
proposition  is  correct,  and  it  is  self-evident,  then  how  the  necessity  for 
gravitation?  We  are  taught  that  "matter"  is  absolutely  imponder- 
able (weighs  nothing),  and  that  the  heavenly  bodies  meet  with  no 
resistance,  so  that,  if  their  motions  are  their  normal  condition,  as 
imponderable  bodies  they  require  no  holding  force  whatever  to  keep 
them  in  their  places.  The  orbit  of  a  heavenly  body  (this  earth,  for 
instance)  is  its  natural  path  of  annular  motion. 

A  moment's  thought  will  expose  the  error  into  which  Newton 
and  his  followers  have  fallen.  They  failed  to  detach  their  minds 
from  the  impression  that  bodies  have  weight.  The  ancients  so 
believed  and  taught,  and  Newton  conceived  the  theory  that  instead 
of  the  earth  resting  upon  a  material  foundation,  it  was  held  in  place 
by  invisible  ties  of  support  distributed  through  space  which  he  termed 
"gravitation."* 

*Here  are  some  pertinent  remarks  on  gravitation  by  the  astronomer, 
(larrett  P.  Serviss : 

"It  must  ])<>  frankly  confessed  that  we  do  not  in  the  least  know  what 
irra vital  ion  is,  nor  precisely  how  it  acts,  and.  further,  that  there  are  certain 
puzzling  facts  which  have  led  some  scientific  minds  to  doubt  whether  the 
"law"  of  gravitation,  as  it  has  been  stated  ever  since  Newton's  time,  may 
not  be  slightly  different  from  what  it  has  been  assumed  to  be. 

'"That  there  may  be  something  besides  gravitation  acting  upon  the 
planets  as  they  circle  in  their  orbits  seems  quite  possible,  but  the  time  has 
not  yet  come  to  proclaim  a  new  law  in  its  place.'' 


36  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

The  conception  of  Newton  is  as  material  as  that  of  the  ancients. 
JJoth  theories  presuppose  weight  as  a  condition  of  "matter."  Else 
\\liv  the  necessity  of  any  means  of  support  for  the  heavenly  bodies? 
Archimedes,  the  ancient  mathematical!,  said  he  could  figure  out  the 
length  of  a  lever  by  which  he  could  move  the  earth.  Modern  mathe- 
maticians have  figured  out  the  number  of  pounds  the  earth  weighs. 
It  seems  almost  impossible  to  divorce  the  human  mind  from  the 
impression  that  bodies  are  heavy  in  proportion  to  their  mass.  Get 
your  mind  absolutely  free  from  that  impression,  and  you  will  begin 
to  see  the  utter  fallacy  of  the  theory  of  gravitation. 

All  apparatus  used  to  illustrate  the  action  of  what  is  termed 
"centrifugal"  and  "centripetal  force,"  as  applied  to  the  motions  of 
the  heavenly  bodies,  are  material,  and  the  evidence  shown  is  utterly 
lacking  in  analogy.  A  body  whirled  about  the  head  at  the  end  of  a 
cord  pulls  away  from  the  center.  Why  ?  For  the  simple  reason  that 
the  body  is  forced  to  do  so  by  the  energy  imparted  to  it,  the  resist- 
ance of  the  air  and  the  attraction  of  the  earth.  Now,  as  the  heavenly 
bodies  meet  with  no  resistance,  where,  I  ask,  is  the  analogy  °  If 
the  resistance  of  the  air  and  the  attraction  of  the  earth  were  removed, 
would  a  holding  force  be  required  to  keep  the  body  whirled  about  the 
head  in  an  orbit?  If  you  tell  me  it  would  leave  its  orbit  if  liberated, 
and  fly  away  in  a  straight  line,  I  will  ask  you  why  ?  We  are  taught 
that  "a  body  in  motion  has  no  power  to  cease  moving  or  to  change 
its  direction  or  velocity."  Very  well,  then,  why  should  an  impond- 
erable body  moving  in  an  orbit  free  from  all  resistance  fly  away  from 
a  center  in  a  tangent?  Why?  This  is  common-sense  philosophy  but 
it  is  unanswerable. 

Fact  is,  the  entire  universe  from  electrone  to  sun  is  in  perpetual 
motion,  and  all  motions  are  circular.  Magnetic  action  is  circular,  and 
electricity  rotates  in  a  spiral  around  a  conductor.  "The  curve  is 
the  line  of  beauty,"  because  light  falls  in  curves  on  the  eye.  The  air, 
ocean  currents,  evaporation  from  the  waters  of  the  earth  and  pre- 
cipitation in  rain,  snow  and  dew;  the  sap  of  the  vegetable  kingdom 
and  the  blood  of  the  animal  kingdom — all  have  a  circular  action. 
The  universe  knows  no  rest  and  no  straight  line.  The  tangent  is 
the  line  of  error,  the  circle  the  emblem  of  reality  of  truth.  The 
Cross  and  the  Crown — emblematic  of  Error  and  Truth — reveal  the 
spiritual  significance  of  my  discovery,  for  mine  is  as  copyrighted 
years  ago. 

The  cross  is  a  disagreeable  combination  of  straight  lines ;  the 
crown,  pleasing  to  the  eye,  is  emblematic  of  the  forms  and  motions 
uf  the  material  universe,  and  is  doubtless  a  spiritual  emblem. 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  37 

It  is  often  as  easy  to  be  led  away  into  error  as  it  is  to  leave  a 
circle  in  a  tangent.  There  is  a  point  that  is  either  the  point  of  a  circle 
or  the  point  of  a  tangent.  It  is  first  where  the  tangent  joins  the 
circle.  The  next  point,  however,  is  either  truth  or  error  depending 
on  whether  we  are  following  the  circle  or  straight  line  which  would 
he  difficult  to  detect.  Thus,  we  may  easily  stray  from  the  truth  in 
our  theorizing  and  wander  far  out  in  a  tangent  of  error  without 
realizing  it. 

Newton  founded  his  theory  of  gravitation  in  the  tangent,  by 
assuming  that  all  things  tend  to  a  state  of  rest.  To  bolster  up  the 
theory,  he  was  forced  to  continue  his  assumptions,  thus  going  farther 
and  farther  away  in  a  tangent.  To  fortify  the  theory,  higher  math- 
ematics was  resorted  to,  and  a  collossal  mathematical  superstructure 
was  framed  up  by  himself  and  followers. 

I)V  way  of  making  myself  understood,  I  will  state  that  what 
is  termed  gravity  is  in  fact,  magnetism.  That  the  earth  is  a  vast 
magnet,  has  been  accepted  by  the  scientific  world  since  Gilbert 
announced  his  discovery  in  the  sixteenth  century.  But  Faraday 
announced  after  exhausting  all  efforts  in  the  vain  search  for  the 
slightest  evidence  of  the  existence  of  a  force  termed  "gravity,"  that 
no  trace  of  it  could  be  found,  and  that  to  suppose  a  force  could  exist 
separate  and  apart  from  other  forces  was  to  him  inconceivable.* 

Faraday  evidently  repudiated  the  theory  of  gravitation  from  an 
experimental  standpoint,  which  goes  far  as  a  practical  proof  that  the 
theory  is  without  foundation  in  fact. 

In  passing,  I  will  here  give  a  hint  of  nature's  harmony  of 
motion:  Magnetic  and  electric  lines  of  force  rotate  from  left  to 
right,  looking  in  the  direction  of  their  flow.  This  is  clearly  demon- 
strated by  the  well  known  experiment  of  "magnetic  and  electric 
rotation."  Plant  growth  develops  in  the  same  form,  that  is,  from 
left  to  right  looking  in  the  direction  of  the  growth.  As  evidence,  all 
trees  with  twisting  grain,  twist  from  left  to  right  and,  without  excep- 
tion all  climbing  vines  twine  around  a  support  from  left  to  right. 

*In  hi-;  treatise  on  gravitation,  "  I'rincipia,"  Newton  made  it  quite 
clear  that  he  was  by  no  means  certain  that  gravity  existed  as  a  force.  He 
staled  that  he  used  the  terms  "gravity"  and  "force"  interchangeably,  as 
mathematical  terms,  without  regard  to  whether  or  not  such  a  force  MS 
gravity  was  in  existence.  In  other  words,  he  was  juggling  with  higher 
mathematics. 

So  with  Darwin.  He  classified  the  bones  of  animals  belonging  to  I  lie 
various  geological  periods,  bul  i!  was  Huxley  and  his  school  of  scientists  who 
formulated  the  Iheory  of  evolution  embracing  the  halucinat  ion  of  "the 
descent  of  man.11  Thus  Newton  was  a  mathematician  and  Darwin  was  a, 
naturalist.  but  neither  of  them  was  a  philosopher.  Neither  did  thev  profess 
to  be. 


38  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

All  normally  developed  people  are  right-handed  which  neces- 
sitates the  construction  of  machinery  and  other  appliances  to  operate 
from  left  to  right.  We  read  from  left  to  right,  and  we  have  the 
mechanism  of  all  clocks  and  watches  so  constructed  that  the  hands 
turn  from  left  to  right. 

Verily,  nature  is  harmonious  in  all  the  activities  of  her  complex 
system.  Circular  motion  is  normal  and  never  conflicting.  It  is 
utterly  absurd  to  suppose  there  is  a  "tendency"  to  a  state  or  condition 
that  does  not  and  cannot  exist.  It  seems  to  me  that  it  is  going  a 
long  way  in  a  tangent  to  conjure  up  such  an  absurdity  to  bolster  up 
the  theory  of  gravitation.  But  it  proved  to  be  a  source  of  grati- 
fication to  mathematicians  who,  like  Newton  and  all  other  mathe- 
maticians are  deficient  in  those  intellectual  gifts  that  characterize 
the  philosopher. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  however,  that  Newton  philosophized 
in  a  tangent.  His  mistake  is  in  line  with  the  fundamental  mistake 
made  at  the  beginning  which  has  kept,  and  still  keeps,  the  human 
family  in  a  tangent  of  errors.  The  competitive  system,  in  all  its 
variations,  operates  in  a  tangent.  Based  upon  private  ownership  it 
must  of  necessity  operate  for  personal  profit  and  the  profit  system 
is  a  tangent  from  the  revolving  or  co-operative  system  which  operates 
without  profit.  Let  us  instance  the  postal  system.  It  operates  with- 
out profit  and  is,  therefore,  a  revolving  system.  Were  it  under 
private  ownership  and,  of  course  operated  for  profit,  then  it  would 
not  be  a  revolving  system,  would  it  ?  If  not  a  revolving  system  what 
would  it  be?  There  are  only  two  continuous  lines  without  angles 
and  they  are  the  circle  and  the  straight  line.  Then,  if  the  profit 
system  (competition),  is  not  a  revolving  system,  it  must  of  necessity 
be  a  straight  line  system.  Is  that  conclusive  ?  Think  it  over. 

Having  shown  that  the  prevailing  economic  system  operates  in 
a  tangent  or  straight  line,  I  will  proceed  to  make  clear  as  possible 
the  fact  that  the  theory  of  evolution  known  as  "Darwinism"  .was 
formulated  in  a  tangent.  The  theory  assumes  that  what  it  terms 
"links,"  connecting  the  species,  form  an  unbroken  chain  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  animal  life.  In  other  words,  in  the  "dawn  animal"  was 
implanted  the  germ  of  all  animal  life,  and  by  successive  evolutions 
corresponding  with  the  geological  periods,  that  germ  developed  all 
the  varied  species  and  "links"  of  animal  creation  including  man. 
Now,  that  unbroken  chain  of  "the  descent  of  man,"  must  of  necessity 
represent  a  straight  line  from  the  dawn  animal  to  man.  Thus  we 
have  a  contradiction  to  the  law  that  water  will  rise  no  higher  than 
its  source.  The  dawn  animal  was  the  source — man  the  highest 
development  and  capable  of  a  still  higher  development!  That  rep- 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  39 

resents  a  straight  line  evolution.  If,  however,  we  regard  the  geolog- 
ical development  of  the  earth  as  marked  by  periods  representing  a 
rev< living  system  by  which  higher  developments  of  plants  and 
animals  were  evolved  from  period  to  period  from  the  gradually 
improving  condition  of  the  earth,  we  will  readily  see  that  the  mal- 
formations of  animals  intervening  the  distinct  species  as  they  were 
introduced,  were  not  "links,"  but  abnormal  formations  due  to  the 
abnormal  condition  of  the  earth.  The  earth  evolved  all  plant  and 
animal  life,  and  the  degree  of  perfection  was  dependent  upon  the 
condition  of  the  earth  at  the  time  of  their  introduction.  Had  the 
geological  periods  of  the  earth's  development  been  sharply  drawn 
there  would  have  been  110  so-called  "links"  intervening  distinct 
species.  Thus  each  and  every  species  including  man,  was  and  is 
distinct,  having  no  connection  whatever  one  with  another. 


AN   OPEN  CHAPTER. 


To  the  Leading  Politicians  of  America. 

Gentlemen  :  Not  one  of  you  is  sincere  in  your  pretentious  that 
economic  and  industrial  conditions  can  be  reformed  and  made  toler- 
able under  the  present  capitalist  system.  I  make  no  exception,  not 
even  shielding  the  President  of  the  United  States  from  censure. 
Indeed,  the  more  stainless  the  private  reputation  and  public  record, 
the  greater  the  hypocrisy  and  the  more  dangerously  misleading  the 
political  influence. 

You  men,  to  whom  this  chapter  is  addressed,  are  all  versed  in 
ancient  and  modern  history,  and  must  know  that  history  repeats 
itself  from  one  single  cause,  and  that  cause  is,  fundamentally,  the 
competitive  system.  Based  upon  unrestricted  private  ownership  and 
attended  by  a  merciless  profit  system  intensified  by  insatiable  greed, 
you  are  certainly  aware  of  the  fact,  patent  to  any  thoughtful  person, 
that  no  form  of  government  can  be  devised  that  could  hold  the 
mastery  over  economic  and  industrial  conditions  created  by  com- 
mercial pirates  who,  rightfully  under  the  system,  secure  the  owner- 
ship and  control  of  all  the  sources  of  independent  subsistence.  You 
know.  Democratic  and  Republican  politicians  alike,  that  already  this 
nation,  still  in  its  infancy  in  years,  is  prematurely  old  and  hastening 
to  an  untimely  end.  You  know  that  all  efforts  put  forth  bv  the  three 
last,  and  present,  administrations  to  reform  abuses  have  proven 
abortive.  You  know  full  well  that  capitalism  has  the  mastery  in  that 


40  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

it  practically  owns  and  absolutely  controls  all  the  wealth  and  com- 
mercial interests  of  the  nation.  Being  politicians,  you  fear  the 
chastening  rod  of  capitalism  that  would  surely  be  inflicted  upon  you 
should  you  honestly  attempt  to  introduce  drastic  reforms.  A  panic 
would  be  precipitated  by  the  combined  money  power  which  would 
speedily  prejudice  the  voters  against  you,  thereby  defeating  your 
ambition  to  remain  great  national  leaders.  Not  one  of  you  has  shown 
a  willingness  to  suffer  political  martyrdom  for  the  welfare  of  your 
country.  Your  whole  political  career  has  been  marked  by  pretense, 
venturing  inch  by  inch  as  the  people  advanced,  goaded  by  the  merci- 
less exactions  of  predatory  wealth.  But  when  the  old  juggernaut 
of  plutocracy  approached  uncomfortably  near,  you  quietly  and 
diplomatically  receded  from  your  aggressiveness.  Roosevelt  knew 
when  to  let  up,  and  Wilson  has  doubtless  learned  that,  after  all,  in 
the  last  analysis,  he  is  little  more  than  a  figurehead.  To  be  elected 
President,  after  filling  McKinley's  unexpired  term,  Roosevelt  had  to 
promise  capitalists  through  Harriman  to  "be  good,"  and,  to  be 
re-elected  President,  Wilson  will  be  compelled  to  "eat  the  same  old 
crow." 

Your  predecessors  added  treachery  to  deception  in  playing  the 
high  protective  tariff  bunco  game  on  their  poor,  deluded  followers 
who  were  misled  by  "Protection  to  American  Industries"  and 
"Protection  to  American  Labor,"  slogans  cunningly  and  adroitly 
used  to  enthuse  the  people.  The  reforms  you  are  now  contending  for 
are  to  undo  the  damage  wrought  by  that  unspeakable  tariff. 

The  floodgates  of  immigration  were  thrown  wide  open  through 
which  organized  capital  flooded  the  country  with  degraded  labor. 
Practically  unrestricted  immigration  was,  just  prior  to  the  European 
war,  still  swarming  into  this  country,  the  low-class  Greek,  Italian, 
Hindu,  Jap  and  Chinese  taking  the  places  of  American  labor  for  the 
reason  that  it  is  cheaper  and  more  servile.  The  pretense  has  been 
and  still  is  that  broad,  liberal,  magnanimous  statesmanship  proclaims 
to  the  world  a  doctrine  of  brotherhood  which  would  afford  to  the 
downtrodden  and  oppressed  of  other  nations  a  refuge  in  this  "land 
of  the  free  and  home  of  the  brave." 

I  deliberately  brand  all  such  pretense  as  the  vilest  hypocracy,  and 
affirm  that  the  whole  scheme  was  instigated  by  the  "captains  of 
industry,"  and  you,  gentlemen,  know  this  to  be  true. 

Moreover,  you  still  tolerate  a  system  of  commercial  robbery  of 
the  people  by  permitting  a  combination  of  pirates,  known  as  specu- 
lators and  middlemen,  to  fix  market  values  of  the  necessaries  of  life, 
thereby  exploiting  both  the  producer  and  consumer  by  a  system  of 
plain  daylight  robbery.  Some  of  you  have  much  to  say  about 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  41 

"conserving"  our  resources,"  but  not  one  of  you  has  lifted  his  voice 
against  the  systematic  robbery  of  the  people  by  prices  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life  inflated  by  pirates  who  would  have  the  people  enthuse 
<>\er  "Old  Glory,"  the  ''Liberty  Bell,"  and  make  the  welkin  ring  with 
"My  country,  'tis  of  thee,  sweet  land  of  liberty,  of  thee  I  sing." 

Much  has  been  said  and  but  little  done  to  curb  big  business  from 
operating  in  restraint  of  trade.  Nothing  has  been  said  by  any  admin- 
istration about  prosecuting  little  business  for  operating  in  restraint  of 
trade.  Nor  has  anything  been  done  to  suppress  gambling  in  the 
necessaries  of  life,  or  to  put  an  end  to  the  crime  of  forcing  up  the 
prices  on  the  necessaries  of  life.  Neither  has  any  "reform"  politician 
suggested  industrial  legislation  to  the  end  that  the  problem  of  the 
unemployed  be  solved. 

I  therefore  suggest  that  drastic  laws  be  adopted  making  it  a 
penal  offense  for  the  proprietors  of  any  business,  little  or  big,  to 
operate  in  restraint  of  trade.  Also  make  it  a  crime  to  gamble  or 
speculate  in  the  necessaries  of  life,  or  to  force  up  prices  of  the  same. 

Then  it  would  be '  necessary  to  secure  the  appropriation  of 
$5,872,465,200  for  the  purpose  of  building  penitentiaries  for  the 
housing  of  the  convicted  business  men,  which  would  be  practically 
every  one  in  the  United  States.  The  merchants'  associations  of  all 
the  towns  and  cities,  the  wholesalers'  and  retailers'  league,  the 
gamblers  in  the  necessaries  of  life,  all  trusts  and  corporations, 
including  the  money  power,  would  all  be  subject  to  criminal  prosecu- 
tion. If  convicted,  vast  penitentiaries  would  be  required  to  hold  them. 

And  this  is  no  joke.  Every  sensible  person  knows  that  it  is 
utterly  impossible  for  competition  on  a  big  or  little  scale  to  live  in 
the  United  States.  That  condition  is  real  capitalism,  and  only  by  the 
restraint  of  trade  can  the  system  of  capitalism  exist.  By  adopting 
such  laws  as  I  have  here  suggested,  their  rigid  enforcement  would 
so  thin  out  the  population  as  to  automatically  solve  the  unemployed 
problem. 

I  make  these  suggestions  to  remind  you,  gentlemen,  that  you 
are  not  fooling  all  the  people  by  the  pretended  prosecution  of  the 
trusts,  for  I  am  one  of  the  people,  and  "there  are  others." 

What  excuse  do  you  offer  for  your  neglect  to  enact  laws  for 
the  protection  of  labor  in  the  industrial  field?  You  are  aware  of  the 
appalling  loss  of  life  through  the  criminal  negligence  of  employers 
in  not  providing  for  their  employes  safeguards  against  accidents  and 
disaster.  You  have  repeatedly  read  the  sickening  details  of  mine  and 
factory  disasters  which  could  have  been  prevented  by  the  "captains 
of  industry,"  and  you  fail  to  legally  compel  them  to  do  so  because 
you  evidently  regard  labor  as  a  short  of  chattel,  and  yon  have  no  use 


42  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

for  the  toiler  except  on  election  day,  when  you  entice  him  into  the 
political  bunco  game  with  the  promise  of  a  "full  dinner  pail"  which 
never  materializes. 

You  know,  gentlemen,  that  the  majority  of  the  voters  are  a  herd 
of  jackasses  else  they  would  speedily  drive  you  out  of  the  councils  of 
the  nation  as  righteously  as  Christ  drove  the  money  changers  from 
the  temple  because  they  were  making  of  it  a  den  of  thieves. 

No  man  could  long  remain  a  national  political  leader  and  be 
sincere  in  his  professions  of  fidelity  to  the  people.  While  capitalists 
are  fully  aware  of  their  power  under  the  system,  they  nevertheless 
fear  the  man  of  ability  and  unswerving  integrity  lest  he  finally  lead 
the  people  out  of  economic  and  industrial  oppression — out  from 
under  the  capitalist  system.  The  captains  of  industry  have  no  fear 
of  reforms  under  their  system.  It  is  what  reforms  may  lead  to  that 
inspires  their  opposition.  It  is  the  fear  of  a  popular  turning  toward 
Social  Democracy  that  alarms  plutocracy. 

Now,  you  know,  as  every  well  informed  man  should  know,  that 
the  system  most  feared  by  capitalism  is  the  one  that  should  be 
adopted  for  the  good  and  sufficient  reason  that  it  is  the  only  remedy 
for  the  economic  and  industrial  abuses  that  are  a  menace  to  the  very 
life  of  the  nation.  I  say,  you  know  that  to  be  a  fact,  but  you  dare  not 
breathe  it  in  the  faintest  whisper  to  a  living  soul. 

On  behalf  of  the  Great  Common  People  of  America,  of  whom 
I  am  classed  as  one,  I  warn  you,  gentlemen,  of  the  danger  of  the 
gathering  forces  of  discontent  that  appear  to  be  slumbering  under 
the  pressure  of  injustice  and  economic  oppression.  I  earnestly  warn 
you  that  you  are  resting  in  false  security  over  a  slumbering  industrial 
volcano  that  imperils  the  nation.  Look  well  to  your  own  personal 
safety  should  the  forces  burst  forth  in  seething  lava  of  hatred  and 
revenge.  No  guilty  man  would  escape  the  fury  of  disorganized 
mobocracv.  Be  warned ! 


LIMIT  OF  PROFIT  FROM  PRIVATE 
OWNERSHIP. 


What  is  the  limit  of  actual  profit  from  private  ownership?  It 
is  easy  to  see  that  when  one  has  a  competency — enough  money  and 
wealth  to  satisfy  all  our  desires  and  to  secure  all  comforts  and  such 
luxuries  as  are  not  hurtful — in  fact,  have  abundance  of  everything 
needful  and  an  income  that  would  insure  us  against  all  "rainy 
days" — we  have  surely  reached  the  limit. 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  43 

When  Commodore  Vanderbilt  was  asked  by  a  friend,  who 
longed  to  become  wealthy,  the  secret  of  his  success,  Vanderbilt 
replied  by  asking  his  friend  if  he  would  like  to  take  charge  of  his 
affairs  and  go  through  the  worry  and  labor  required  to  keep  them 
going,  for  his  board  and  clothes,  such  as  he  had.  His  friend  promptly 
"turned  down  the  job,"  whereupon  Vanderbilt  remarked  that  that 
was  all  the  pay  he  could  possibly  get  out  of  all  of  his  wealth. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  Vanderbilt  made  it  clear  to  his  friend, 
why  is  it  that  millionaires  will  strive  for  millions  more?  No  man 
can  expend  one  million  dollars  in  a  long  lifetime  without  lavish 
extravagance.  Why  then,  does  he  want  two,  ten,  twenty,  a  hundred 
millions,  "and  then  some"? 

We  say,  he  is  actuated  by  greed.  Well,  greed  has  much  to  do 
with  urging  him  on,  but  the  satisfaction  derived  from  the  possession 
of  great  wealth  is  purely  imaginary.  There  is,  in  fact,  no  reality  in 
the  enjoyment  a  millionaire  derives  from  his  imaginary  importance. 
The  power  of  wealth  is  such  that  people  treat  him  with  deference,  and 
thousands  fawn  at  his  feet,  but  there  are  doubtless  times  when  he 
realizes  that  he  has  few  if  any  bosom  friends.  He  knows  that  he  has 
enemies,  and  that  he  is  often  in  danger  of  assassination.  Still  he 
takes  a  strange  enjoyment  out  of  it  all,  and  his  egotism  gives  him  a 
feeling  of  self-sufficiency  that  extols  him  in  his  own  imagination. 

Now,  the  fact  is,  the  magnates  who  own  and  operate  all  the 
public  utilities  and  industries  do  not  realize  that  they  are,  in  fact, 
servants  of  the  people.  The  proof  is  clear.  Let  us  say  they  own  and 
operate  a  railroad  system.  Well,  the  people  who  patronize  it  get  all 
the  benefit  derived  from  it  in  transportation  of  freight  and  travel. 
They  pay  for  it  all,  it  is  true,  but  what  value  has  the  money  to  men 
who  already  have  millions?  The  answer  is,  to  loan  or  invest  in  other 
railroads.  Very  well;  then  what?  Why,  they  derive  a  profit  which 
adds  to  their  millions.  Well,  what  of  it?  They  pursue  that  course  to 
the  end  of  their  career,  when  they  have  a  big  funeral,  and  that  is 
the  end !  No ;  not  the  end  of  the  investment.  The  people  still  have 
the  benefit  of  the  railroad,  and  those  who  borrowed  the  money  have 
the  use  of  it,  so  where  did  the  dead  millionaire  profit  from  it  all? 

The  millionaire  manufacturer  makes  his  profit  on  clothing  or 
groceries,  and  the  people  get  all  the  actual  benefit  that  can  be  derived 
in  the  use  of  the  goods  or  groceries.  They  get  clothing  and  food  for 
their  money,  and  the  millionaire  manufacturer  gets  the  money, 
which  can  be  of  no  possible  benefit  to  him.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  detriment, 
as  it  adds  to  his  already  wearisome  burdens  which  exhaust  his  eiKTgv 
and  shorten  his  life. 

Still,  the  millionaire  clings  to  the  apparition  that  haunts  his 
greedy  soul.  The  hypnotic,  spell  of  that  strange  longing  for  millions 


44  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

and  more  millions  has  lured  him  on  to  build  better  than  he  knew. 
To  acquire  the  millions  he  becomes  a  servant  of  the  people  for  all 
time  for  at  the  end  of  life's  brief  span  he  leaves  a  legacy  of  the 
wealth  he  has  caused  to  be  created  for  the  benefit  of  the  people. 
Stanford,  Crocker  and  Huntington  died  as  the  poor  mendicant  \vho 
begged  pennies  by  the  wayside,  yet  they  were  the  path  finders  of  the 
great  Southern  Pacific  Railway  system  that  now  is,  and  will  continue 
to  be,  a  benefit  to  the  people. 

Rockefeller  is  bowed  with  age  and,  like  an  old,  faithful  slave, 
has  served  his  master  well,  for  millions  of  people  enjoy  the  benefit 
of  lamps  lighted  by  refined  kerosene  which  is  delivered  to  them 
through  a  wonderful  system  of  his  own  creation.  His  declining  years 
have  been  beset  by  torturous  vindictiveness,  and  the  skeleton  of 
assassination,  gaunt  and  grim-visaged,  is  in  his  closet.  Who  does  not 
pity  the  poor  old  man  whose  fabulous  wealth  is  a  curse  to  his 
declining  years  ? 

And  in  a  larger  degree  those  captains  of  industry  build  better 
than  they  know,  for  they  have  so  systematized  the  facilities  of  trans- 
portation, production  and  distribution  and  the  use  of  all  public 
utilities  as  to  make  them  ready  for  the  coming  of  the  co-operative 
system.  Herein  lies  the  greatest  value  of  the  life  work  of  the  captains 
of  industry. 


SIMPLICITY  OF  SOCIALISM. 


To  my  mind,  long  drawn  out  argument,  "splitting  a  hair  a  mile 
long,"  to  prove  the  error,  weakness  and  fallacy  of  our  economic  and 
industrial  system,  is  utterly  absurd.  Besides,  such  argument  dignifies 
the  competitive  system  by  making  it  appear  very  difficult  if  not 
impossible  to  prove  that  it  is  erroneous.  Whereas,  it  stands  out  in 
the  open  condemned  by  all  history  and  the  present  demoralized 
condition  of  the  world.  Any  one  who  fails  to  realize  that  fact  should 
be  sent  to  the  home  for  the  feeble-minded.  The  thing  needful  is  not 
argument,  but  a  clear  exposition  of  Socialism,  showing  conclusively 
that  its  basic  principles  are  in  perfect  conformity  with  natural  law, 
which  leaves  no  room  for  argument.  Competition  is  man-made, 
artificial;  Socialism  means  the  translation  of  natural  law  into  human 
governments,  institutions  and  laws.  Ts  man  wiser  than  nature?' 

To  my  mind,  Socialism  is  perfect  simplicity.  There  is  no  room 
for  argument  for  or  against  it  unless,  indeed,  one  would  have  the 
temerity  to  argue  to  prove  or  disprove  natural  law.  For  that  .is  all 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  45 

there  is  to  Socialism.  It  is  to  copy  from  nature  in  formulating  a 
system  of  government,  and  if  no  mistake  is  made  in  translating 
natural  law  into  human  government,  institutions  and  laws,  we  would 
have  a  perfect  government  just  as  the  operations  of  nature  are 
perfect. 

Here  is  the  simple  illustration:  Nature  is  a  vast  revolving 
system,  all  of  her  parts  working  in  perfect  harmony — an  endless 
round  of  connections  of  one  part  to  another,  interdependent,  inter- 
related and  reciprocal. 

Go  and  examine  a  machine.  Notice  the  endless  connections  of 
wheels,  belts,  pulleys — all  co-operating  in  perfect  harmony  because 
the  parts  are  so  adjusted  that  they  all  revolve.  Hence,  a  machine  is 
a  mechanical  revolving  system.  It  conforms  to  the  requirements  of 
natural  law  and  is,  therefore,  an  apt  illustration  of  the  operation  of 
nature's  intricate  mechanism. 

Now,  let  one  economic  part  of  our  government  represent  one 
wheel  of  the  machine ;  for  instance,  the  railroad  systems ;  the  tele- 
graph systems  another  wheel,  the  telephone  another,  a  number  of 
wheels  for  factories,  a  large  number  of  wheels  for  the  various 
industries,  and  so  on,  including  all  things  that  should  be  collectively 
owned  and  operated.  (The  postal  system  would  fit  into  the  machine 
perfectly  just  as  it  is.)  Let  a  regenerated  Uncle  Sam  be  the  chief 
engineer  and  press  the  button  after  the  great  economic  and  industrial 
machine  was  in  perfect  running  order.  Do  you  have  the  slightest 
doubt  that  it  would  operate  as  perfectly  as  any  well  constructed 
machine?  You  cannot  doubt  it — there  is  absolutely  no  room  for 
doubt. 

Of  course,  you  understand,  this  great  machinery  of  government 
would  be  under  the  immediate  supervision  of  the  people,  who  would 
own  and  operate  it.  The  political  system  would  be  changed  from  a 
representative  government  to  a  social  democracy.  A  social  democ- 
racy is  a  government  over  which  the  people  would  have  absolute 
control.  Xo  authority  would  be  unconditionally  delegated  to  the 
legislative,  executive  or  judiciary.  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  was  a 
Socialist  in  principle,  aptly  expressed  it  in  these  words,  so  often 
quoted  by  political  bunco  leaders:  "A  government  by  the  people, 
of  the  people  and  for  the  people." 

Reader,  if  you  are  not  a  Socialist,  read  this  little  chapter  over  a 
few  times  and  think  over  the  matter  until  you  become  familiar  with 
the  great  central  idea  involved,  and  you  cannot  fail  to  see  the  beauty 
of  Socialism. 


46  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

FREE  LOVE  EXPOSED. 


Since  Victoria  Woodhull  and  her  school  of  home  wreckers 
advocated  free  love,  others  with  as  little  regard  for  social  purity  and 
ilie  sanctity  of  the  home  have  come  into  prominence  from  time  to 
time  as  advocates  of  that  social  system  which,  if  adopted,  would 
ultimately  bring  the  human  family  down  to  the  level  of  beasts. 

The  Woodhull  school  advocated  free  love  as  a  means  of 
improving  the  human  race  by  giving  to  all  a  free  hand  at  selection 
or  mating,  bound  by  no  marriage  tie.  It  was  claimed  that  the  law 
of  heredity  demands  sexual  selection  as  adopted  by  fine  stock  breeders 
in  order  to  secure  the  best  specimens  of  manhood  and  womanhood. 
That  theory  ignores  MUTUAL  LOVE,  which  the  law  of  heredity 
exacts  of  human  beings.  Doubtless  the  originators  of  the  theory  were 
ignorant  of  the  law  of  heredity  as  applied  to  human  beings,  as  it 
seems  doubtful  if  an  intelligent  person  could  be  so  carnal  and 
licentiously  sordid  as  to  knowingly  advocate  a  theory  that  would 
mean  the  demoralization  of  the  human  family  and,  in  time,  bring  all 
down  to  the  level  of  brute  creation. 

The  theory  of  evolution  known  as  Darwinism  is  used  by  the 
advocates  of  free  love  as  "scientific  proof"  that,  since  interrelation- 
ship exists  between  the  human  family  and  all  the  creeping  and 
living  things  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  therefore  the  law  of  heredity 
should  operate  through  all  animal  creation  alike.  Physically  that  law 
affects  all  alike,  but  for  mental,  moral  and  spiritual  development  the 
la\v  has  to  do  with  human  beings  alone.  Here  is  another  "missing 
link"  which,  like  the  famous  "missing  link"  connecting  man  with 
his  "hairy  ancestors,"  exists  in  a  perverted  imagination. 

Love  is  a  divine  gift  to  the  human  race,  and  upon  that  founda- 
tion rests  the  sanctity  of  marriage  and  the  home.  With  the  most 
perfect  physical  selection  for  mating  of  the  sexes,  if  mutual  love  be 
lacking,  the  progeny,  though  physically  perfect,  would  be  deficient 
intellectually,  morally  and  spiritually.  That  is  a  clear,  concise  inter- 
pretation of  the  law  of  heredity  as  applied  to  the  human  family. 

Courtship  is  designed  by  the  law  of  heredity  as  a  means  of 
inkindling  the  divine  flame  of  love.  It  is  a  wise  provision  for  the 
higher  development  of  real  manhood  and  womanhood.  But  nature 
makes  no  provision  for  mental  development  of  animals  and  birds,  but 
there  is  a  provision  for  physical  development  according  to  the 
requirements  of  different  species.  Instead  of  courting,  beasts  of 
prey — dogs,  cats,  lions,  tigers,  etc. — fight,  which  develops  the 
fighting  instinct  in  the  offspring;  deer  have  their  "running  season" 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  47 

that  their  progeny  may  he  licet  footed;  birds  are  on  the  wing- 
carrying-  material  with  which  to  build  their  nests,  that  their  offspring 
may  be  fleet  of  wing,  and  so  on  throughout  the  animal  kingdom. 

But  of  human  beings,  the  law  of  heredity  requires  obedience  to 
but  two  conditions,  namely,  selection  of  opposite  in  complexion  and 
temperament  and,  most  important,  mutual  love. 

In  this  connection  I  earnestly  warn  the  reader  against  placing 
any  faith  in  the  craze  of  "eugenic  marriage."  It  is  aimed  as  a  substi- 
tute for  improving  the  race  through  the  operation  of  the  natural  law 
of  heredity.  Be  assured  that  the  money  power  is  back  of  the  move- 
ment, to  the  end  that  the  real  remedy  for  the  decline  of  manhood 
and  womanhood — environment  and  heredity — may  be  obscured. 
Capitalism  naturally  objects  to  bettering  the  environment  of  the 
common  people,  since  that  power  is  responsible  for  the  bad  environ- 
ment which,  you  know,  cheapens  labor.  The  captains  of  industry 
require  cheap,  degraded  labor  in  their  business.  "Eugenic  marriage," 
if  popularized,  would  improve  the  physical  development  and  deplete 
the  intellectual  and  moral,  since  the  trend  of  the  movement  is 
inevitably  toward  free  love,  and  that  means  race  suicide  with  a 
vengeance. 

If  each  applicant  who  passed  the  physical  examination  were 
given  a  phrenological  chart  with  full  instructions  from  a  master  of 
that  science,  it  would  be  a  vast  improvement.  But  that  would  not 
improve  the  environment,  which  must  be  done,  else  the  race  will 
continue  to  deteriorate.  Be  assured  that  no  artificial  means  can 
operate  as  a  substitute  for  natural  law. 


RACE  SUICIDE. 


I  am  conscientious  in  what  I  write  here  upon  this  subject,  and 
write  my  convictions  freely  and  without  reserve.  All  history  fully 
justifies  all  I  shall  say,  and  the  Bible,  in  one  instance  at  least,  declares 
that  the  Christian's  God  became  utterly  disgusted  with  the  human 
family.  He  is  quoted  as  saying  that  He  "repented  that  He  made 
man."  Xoah's  flood  was  a  means  of  race  extinction,  save  Xoah  and 
his  family.  History  since  Noah,  and  beginning  with  his  corrupt 
conduct,  justifies  the  assertion  that  Noah  and  his  family  should  have 
gone  with  the  rest,  and  another  effort  made  to  improve  the  breed. 


48  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

Now,  mind  you,  I  say  providing"  the  old  cut-throat  system  of 
competition  continued  in  vogue.  As  I  have  said  in  another  chapter, 
I  repeat  here,  namely,  that  all  the  abuses,  evils  and  vices,  together 
with  all  tyranny  and  oppression,  are  traceable  directly  to  that  system. 
The  only  possible  excuse  the  human  family  can  offer  is  that  the  hog 
element  in  the  construction  of  man  should  have  been  left  out,  since 
greed  is  the  cause  of  all  of  "man's  inhumanity  to  man." 

Nevertheless,  attach  the  blame  where  we  may,  the  fact  remains 
that  up  to  date..  June,  1915,  the  human  family  as  a  whole  from  the 
beginning  has  been  and  is  a  dead  waste  of  raw  material.  Millions 
and  millions  have  come  and  gone,  and  what  of  it  all  ?  To  use  the 
miners'  phrase,  what  is  the  "clean-up?"  As  I  write,  all  the  great 
nations  of  Europe  are  at  war,  the  most  destructive,  merciless  and 
even  barbarous  the  world  has  ever  known.  Just  prior  to  the  war 
economic  and  industrial  conditions  were  intolerable.  Millions  were 
out  of  employment  and  reduced  to  beggary.  Labor  unions  and  the 
Socialist  party  were  rapidly  gaining  strength,  foreshadowing  the 
doom  of  capitalism,  and  with  it  rulers  and  leaders  who  are  its  sole 
dependence.  Therefore  a  war  of  extermination  became  necessary 
to  deplete  the  population  and  to  destroy  property  so  that  employment 
under  the  same  old  system  could  be  given  to  all  that  survived  the 
war.  As  a  result  the  labor  unions  and  Socialist  movement  would  be 
defeated,  temporarily,  at  least,  giving  ample  time  for  plutocracy  to 
fortify  itself  against  renewed  agitation  for  reforms. 

Now,  I  declare  to  you  that  if  a  change  from  capitalism  were 
impossible,  then  war  were  preferable  to  continued  oppression  that 
forebode  a  fate  such  as  the  human  family  endured  during  the  dark 
ages. 

Still  better  would  have  been  race  suicide  for  those  who  suffer 
from  poverty  and  hunger  in  peace,  or  endure  the  terrors  of  war. 
\V1io  will  gainsay  this  terrible  truth?  Who  will  deny  that  it  were 
better  that  the  millions  of  abject  poor,-  together  with  the  millions 
who  lose  their  lives  in  barbarous  wars,  were  never  born?  Better,  I 
say,  a  thousand  times  better ! 

What  is  the  problem  of  human  life?  Can  it  be  solved  by  history 
repeating  itself  over  and  over  again  in  sickening  recitals  of  national 
calamities  and  disastrous  overthrow  of  civilization?  What  think  you 
is  the  supreme  purpose  of  creation  ?  Was  man  designed  to  be  the  king 
of  beasts,  or  God  made  manifest  in  the  flesh?  What  is  the  purpose 
of  living  at  all?  Is  it  to  "propagate  and  rot"?  Does  history  give  the 
highest  purpose  for  which  the  human  family  was  brought  into 
existence?  Prove  to  me  that  this  is  true  and  I  will  prove  by  his 
works  that  there  really  exists  a  personal  devil  and  that  he  is  the 


creator 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  49 


creator.  History  attests  that  human  devils  have  had  most  to  do  with 
making  history,  and  the  inference  might  be  construed  to  indicate  the 
leadership  of  "his  satanic  majesty."  To  be  plain  spoken,  I  should 
say  that  a  God  of  wisdom,  love  and  mercy  would  repudiate  man  who, 
"dressed  in  a  little  brief  authority,  plays  such  fantastic  tricks  before 
high  heaven  as  make  angels  weep." 

Well,  if  the  condition  of  the  human  family  is  not  to  be  improved 
—if  to  live  is  but  a  farce  and  to  die  a  hopeless  tragedy — if  we  are  to 
continue  the  slaves  of  greed  and  blind  worshipers  at  the  shrine  of 
Mammon — then  it  were  better  that  the  whole  human  family  be 
blotted  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  Under  the  prevailing  conditions, 
and  the  conditions  of  all  the  past,  race  suicide  is  fully  justified. 

The  conditions  of  human  life  would  be  bad  enough  under  the 
very  best  political  and  economic  conditions.  Nature's  terrors — the 
earthquake,  volcano,  cyclone  and  tempest,  together  with  the  myriad 
disease  germs  and  disease-bearing  germs,  and  the  standard  diseases 
to  which  flesh  is  heir,  and  the  problem  of  the  hereafter — these 
inflictions  and  afflictions  are  enough  to  be  borne,  but  when  is  added 
"man's  inhumanity  to  man,"  which  is  a  thousand  times  worse,  why, 
sir,  race  suicide  is  a  long  way  preferable  to  enduring  all  to  no 
conceivable  purpose. 

I  say  in  all  candor  that  if  the  human  family  will  not  turn  away 
from  the  cut-throat  system  of  competition  to  one  of  social  democracy, 
then  let  us  clear  ourselves  of  the  responsibility  for  bringing  into  the 
world  those  \vlio  at  best  will  find  little  or  no  pleasure  in  living-,  and 
at  the  worst — well,  it  may  be  to  drag  out  a  miserable  existence  in 
drudgery  and  helpless  poverty  as  millions  do,  or  be  slaughtered  or 
wounded  in  the  terrors  of  war.  I  ask,  is  life  worth  the  living  under 
such  conditions? 

Here  is  an  old  man  and  woman,  decrepit  with  age.  They  have 
done  their  part  toiling  to  heap  up  wealth  for  others.  They  have 
eight  or  ten  children,  well  advanced  in  years,  who  are  "in  the 
harness"  and  "pulling  hard  against  a  cold  collar."  Their  twenty-five 
or  thirty  grandchildren  are  beginning  a  life  of  toil,  and  forty  or  fifty 
great  grandchildren  who  will  soon  be  entering  the  industrial  field. 
Xmv,  what  of  it  all?  Can  the  old  man  and  woman  feel  that  they 
have  lived  to  any  purpose  other  than  to  bring  more  poverty,  toil  and 
hardships  into  the  world?  And  this  picture  is  not  overdrawn.  It  is 
taken  from  real  life  among  the  millions  of  poor.  Do  you  tell  me  that 
race  suicide  is  not  far  preferable  to  such  conditions?  If  you  dispute 
this,  then  you  are  more  animal  than  human. 


50  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 


WHAT  IS  CIVILIZATION? 


A  great  many  people  believe  that  the  leading  nations  have 
reached  a  high  state  of  civilization.  Many  who  should  know  the  real 
definition  of  the  word  "civilization"  hold  to  that  belief.  The  impres- 
sion that  civilization  means  material  progress  seems  to  prevail.  The 
wonderful  strides  of  inventions  that  have  practically  supplanted  the 
slow  process  of  hand  labor  in  factories,  shops  and  a  thousand  other 
places,  railroads,  telegraph,  telephone,  wireless  telegraph,  X-ray, 
radium,  the  bicycle,  motorcycle,  automobile  and  air  crafts,  are  cited 
as  evidence  of  advanced  civilization. 

While  it  is  true  that  the  most  enlightened  nations  have  made 
wonderful  material  progress  during  the  past  half  century,  yet  the 
stubborn  fact  "butts  in"  to  expose  the  abuses  resulting  from  the 
private  ownership  and  operation  of  all  the  invented  machinery  and 
devices  which  in  turn  have  resulted  in  the  monopoly  of  the  facilities 
of  transportation  and  communication,  all  public  utilities,  the  facilities 
of  production  giving  private  control  of  all  important  industries  and 
the  markets,  leaving  the  producer,  consumer  and  wage  earner  at  the 
mercy  of  greedy  trusts,  monopolies  and  syndicates.  Millions  have 
been  thrown  out  of  employment  by  lavor  saving  machinery  and 
devices,  tending  to  enslave  labor  and  impoverish  the  producer  and 
consumer.  Indeed,  the  entire  economic  and  industrial  system  is  a 
cowardly  hold-up  from  start  to  finish. 

This  is  a  brief  summary  of  the  results  of  the  boasted  material 
progress  which  is  cited  as  evidence  of  a  high  state  of  civilization. 
What  do  you  think  of  it?  Do  you  think  that  civilization  consists  in 
permitting  private  monopolies  to  exploit  the  toiler,  producer  and 
consumer — everybody,  in  fact,  but  the  wealthy?  Do  you  think  that 
a  nation  is  civilized  that  is  dominated  by  commercial  cannibals  who, 
through  their  nefarious  business  methods,  reduce  millions  to  poverty, 
enforced  idleness  and  crime?  Is  a  nation  civilized  wherein  greed 
prostitutes  manhood  and  debases  womanhood  by  placing  a  premium 
on  successful  dishonesty?  Is  a  nation  civilized  whose  jails,  prisons 
and  asylums  .are  overcrowding  with  inmates?  Where  it  becomes 
necessary  to  enact  laws  to  prohibit  the  manufacture  of  poisonous 
drugs  and  medicines,  and  the  adulteration  of  food  with  poisonous 
ingredients?  Can  you  say  that  the  rich  and  influential  criminals 
guilty  of  such  atrocity  are  civilized? 

Is  a  nation  civilized  which  maintains  a  ruler — king,  emperor, 
czar  or  by  any  other  title — and  a  great  number  of  royal  bummers,  all 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  51 

at  enormous  cost  to  its  people,  who  submit  to  arbitrary  and  despotic 
rule?  Is  our  own  nation,  which  is  termed  a  republic,  but  which,  in 
fact,  is  a  limited  oligarchy,  civilized  when  organized  capital,  created 
largely  by  the  protective  tariff  and  special  legislation,  influences 
national  legislation  by  bribery  and  intimidation?  Is  our  nation 
civilized  when  it  affords  no  protection  to  labor  and  makes  no  pro- 
vision for  the  army  of  unemployed?  Civilized,  you  say,  when  the 
Federal  Government  regards  property  interests  as  more  sacred  than 
the  rights  of  labor?  Where  market  gambling  in  the  necessaries  of 
life  is  tolerated  in  its  open  and  shameless  robbery  of  the  people? 

A  "Christian  nation,"  indeed !   Why,  sir,  at  best  we  are  not  half 
civilized.  Listen  while  I  tell  you  of  a  true  state  of  civilization : 

A  popular  government  founded  by  and  for  all  the  people.  A  co- 
operative system,  insuring  to  all  the  full  products  of  their  labor. 
No  land  titles,  but  the  tiller  of  the  soil  would  be  secure  in  a  home 
under  a  just  leasing  system  formulated  and  adopted  by  the  people. 
Profit,  interest  and  rent  would  find  no  place  in  a  system  of  social 
democracy.  The  people  would  rule  through  the  operation  of  the 
initiative,  referendum,  recall  and  imperative  mandate. 

The  system  would  be  very  simple.  All  railroads,  telegraph  and 
telephone  systems,  all  factories,  shops  and  mines,  and,  in  fact,  all 
public  utilities  would  be  owned  and  operated  by  the  government  just 
as  the  postal  system  is  now  operated.  For  instance.  Ford  gives  half  of 
the  profits  derived  from  the  sale  of  his  automobiles  to  his  employes. 
Well,  under  a  system  of  social  democracy  he  would  superintend  just 
as  he  does  now  and,  not  half,  but  all  of  the  profits  would  go  to  all 
that  worked,  including  Mr.  Ford.  So  with  a  railroad  system.  All 
who  are  engaged  in  operating  it  receive  salaries  and  wages,  officials 
and  all.  There  need  be  no  one  discharged  under  public  ownership, 
but  it  is  probable  wages  and  salaries  would  be  increased,  for,  you 
know,  the  profit  system  would  be  eliminated.  Instead  of  the  wages 
and  salaries  being  paid  from  the  office  of  the  railroad  magnates,  a 
regenerated  Uncle  Sam  would  foot  the  bills. 

Under  such  a  system  premiums  would  all  be  for  honesty  and 
efficiency  rather  than  for  successful  rascality  as  now.  The  hours  of 
labor  would  be  reduced  one-half,  giving  leisure  for  reading,  recrea- 
tion and  enjoyment.  Being  free  from  the  bondage  of  competition, 
there  would  be  no  business  jealousy  or  rivalry.  As  the  interests  of 
all  would  be  mutual  and  co-operative,  the  spirit  of  fellowship,  free 
from  clannishness,  would  prevail.  Then  brotherly  love — the  dream 
of  humanity  for  centuries — would  be  realized. 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  system,  and  only  system,  upon  which  a  real 
civilization  may  be  founded. 


52  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 


THE  MEANEST  CREATURE  ON  EARTH. 


Who  or  what  is  it?  Well,  I  knbw  from  a  knowledge  of  history, 
from  observation  and  from  personal  experience.  History  tells  us  that 
"man's  inhumanity  to  man  makes  countless  thousands  mourn/'  and 
it  is  true.  Now,  the  creature  of  whom  I  shall  write  in  this  chapter 
was,  and  is,  the  cause  of  that  inhumanity.  He  has  much  the  appear- 
ance of  a  human  being,  but,  in  the  highest  sense,  he  is  not.  He  so  out- 
classes the  fiercest  beast  of  prey  that  there  is  no  comparison.  He 
disproves  the  theory  of  a  personal  devil,  since  he  and  his  class  are 
all  there  is  to  hell,  which  they  create  right  here  on  earth. 

Members  of  that  class  have  come  and  gone — gone,  doubtless, 
into  outer  darkness  where  there  is  weeping,  wailing  and  gnashing  of 
teeth — and  they  left  a  legacy  of  damnation  that  has  been  handed 
down  from  generation  to  generation.  They  are  more  numerous  now 
than  ever  before  in  the  history  of  the  world.  They  are  known  by  a 
11111111361-  of  titles,  such  as  "millionaire,"  "multi-millionaire,"  "mag- 
nate" and  "captain  of  industry." 

He  is  an  abnormal  product  of  the  law  of  heredity  by  reason  of  a 
parental  environment  of  nefarious  schemes  incited  by  sordid  greed. 
It  is  said  that  poets  are  born  and  not  made.  So  with  the  creature  of 
whom  I  write.  His  only  mental  gift  equips  him  as  an  exploiter  and 
he  is  a  genius  in  that  line.  As  geniuses  are  usually  dull  in  everything 
else  except  that  for  which  they  have  an  abnormal  gift,  so  with  this 
creature  of  greed.  He  is  usually  below  the  average  intellectually,  and 
is  well-nigh  destitute  of  moral  faculties.  He  can  truly  say  with 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  that  he  cannot  understand  an  honest,  unselfish 
man,  from  the  fact  that  he  has  no  moral  standard  by  which  to  judge. 

His  class  has  done  the  world  more  harm  than  all  things  else 
combined.  To  gain  his  wealth,  he  has  exploited  the  toiler,  the 
producer  and  the  consumer,  and  without  the  slightest  compunction 
or  mercy  forced  his  weaker  competitors  into  bankruptcy  and  ruin. 
He  employs  the  ablest  legal  advisors  to  engineer  his  nefarious 
schemes,  and  the  secretary  in  his  office  is  under  instructions  to  use 
every  deception  of  which  he  is  capable  in  answering  business  corre- 
spondence, particularly  when  there  is  a  fat  bargain  to  drive. 

He  has  at  his  command  a  bunch  of  lieutenants  who  are  bright 
little  devils,  but  who  haven't  the  genius  for  exploiting,  so  must  "play 
the  second  fiddle,"  And  along  down  the  line  he  has  ''staked  out" 
little  helpers  who  are  glad  to  get  the  crumbs  that  fall  from  their 
master's  table.  In  addition,  he  has  at  his  feet  the  fawning  multitude 
of  mutts  who  are  ready  to  "crouch  and  cower  like  the  belabored 
hound  beneath  his  master's  lash," 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  53 

Now,  from  his  throne  of  wealth,  heaped  up  by  toiling  thousands, 
he  issues  orders  down  the  line  and  "you  bet"  they  are  obeyed.  He 
rules  with  an  iron  rod  and  cloven  fist.  His  class  is  "the  power  behind 
the  throne"  in  every  nation.  Nations  have  rulers  and  presidents,  but 
the  commercial  cannibals  are  the  boss  when  it  comes  to  a  "show 
down."  By  their  dishonest  'business  methods  and  by  economic  and 
industrial  oppression  which  they  create,  thousands  become  dishonest 
through  imitation,  and  thousands  more  are  forced  into  rascality, 
trickery  and  crime. 

To  secure  the  passage  of  laws  favorable  to  their  interests  they 
have  corrupted  legislative  bodies  and,  to  defeat  the  execution  of 
objectionable  laws,  courts  have  been  bribed,  and  when  bribery  failed, 
they  have  resorted  to  intimidation.  They — organized  capital — have 
carried  elections  by  bribery,  fraud  and  intimidation.  Notably  the 
election  of  McKinley  for  the  purpose  of  permanently  establishing  the 
gold  standard  which,  by  depleting  the  currency,  gave  to  predatory 
wealth  a  free  hand  at  exploiting  the  human  family  upon  a  scale 
unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  world.  The  demonetization  of  silver 
was  the  result  of  a  concerted  movement  of  the  capitalists  of  all 
nations  and  was  one  of  the  most  outrageous  crimes  ever  perpetrated 
against  humanity. 

That  class  is  responsible  for  nearly  all  wars  and,  since  the  world 
has  come  under  the  domination  of  capitalism,  they  hold  the  "sinews 
of  war"  in  finance  and  in  the  equipment  of  all  war  material  for  the 
army.  Through  loaning  money  to  warring  nations  and  equipping 
their  armies  with  implements  of  slaughter,  they  heap  up  vast 
fortunes,  and  succeed  in  getting  rid  of  a  surplus  population  that,  by 
reason  of  poverty  and  unemployment,  might  become  a  disturbing  and 
dangerous  element. 

They  glory  in  poverty  if  it  cheapens  labor,  rejoice  in  misfortune 
if  it*  falls  to  the  lot  of  those  whom  they  have  exploited,  and  exult  in 
the  ruin  of  weaker  competitors.  Crime  is  a  joke  if  it  is  adjudged  to 
one  of  that  class,  and  murder  is  justified  by  them  if  it  be  inflicted 
upon  striking  working  men  who  demand  their  rights. 

I  have  heard  Socialist  speakers  declare  that  men  should  not  be 
condemned  since  the  competitive  system  is  to  blame.  I  am  aware 
that  the  system  is  back  of  it  all,  but  to  exonerate  commercial  can- 
nibals and  pirates  from  blame  when  they  have  wilfully  created  the 
capitalist  system  through  which  to  oppress  and  demoralize  humanity 
for  gain — I  say,  away  with  such  Socialist  speakers!  Give  us  men 
who  will  condemn  the  system  and  "set  the  hair"  on  its  creators. 


54  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

BIG  AND  LITTLE  BUMMERS. 


Classified,  the  world's  bummers  rank  from  the  crowned  heads 
and  rulers  of  nations  and  their  multitude  of  royal  bummers,  known 
as  lords,  dukes,  earls,  etc.,  together  with  all  capitalists  and  specu- 
lators, down  the  line  to  the  ordinary  bummer  who  lounges  around 
and  "never  misses  a  meal  or  pays  a  cent."  I  classify  all  people — 
men  and  women — bummers  who  do  not  actually  earn  by  useful 
service  the  money  they  spend  for  personal  expenses,  be  that  little  or 
much. 

Fundamentally  it  is  an  economic  axiom  that  labor  creates  all 
wealth.  That  being  true,  all  who  possess  wealth  secured  it  in*  some 
manner  from  labor.  Now,  if  that  wealth  was  really  earned  by  useful 
service,  the  possessor  is  honestly  entitled  to  it,  otherwise  he  is  not 
entitled  to  it  and  is,  therefore,  a  bummer.  That's  the  whole  proposi- 
tion in  a  nutshell. 

There  are  multitudes  who  perform  service — for  themselves — but 
of  no  benefit  or  usefulness  whatever.  The  ruler  keeps  pretty  busy 
keeping  his  subjects  under  subjection  and  is,  therefore,  doing  more 
harm  than  good.  He  draws  his  princely  income  from  the  earnings 
of  labor,  which  is  exploited  by  legal  process.  Hence,  the  ruler  and 
his  royal  family  are  bummers,  for  they  earn  nothing  and  are  an 
obstruction  to  political  and  economic  progress. 

Capitalists  and  speculators  without  exception  are  bummers. 
They  exploit  labor  whether  wage  earner  or  producer,  and  laws  are  so 
framed  as  to  legalize  the  process.  If  stripped  of  all  the  wealth  they 
have  exploited,  millionaires  would  be  left  penniless.  It  is  barely 
possible  there  may  be  an  exception ;  if  so,  it  proves  the  rule. 

The  capitalist  who  inherits  his  wealth  is  innocent  of  the  charge 
of  exploitation,  but  he  is  a  bummer  just  the  same  unless  he  earns  his 
living  by  useful  service.  But  the  wealth  he  inherited  was  exploited, 
for  it  is  impossible  to  acquire  great  wealth  without  accumulating  it 
from  the  hard  earnings  of  labor.  Ford  gives  his  employes  one-half 
of  the  net  income  from  the  sale  of  his  automobiles,  which  is  a  prac- 
tical admission  that  they  are  entitled  to  it,  and  I  venture  the  assertion 
that  if  Ford  would  open  his  heart  to  a  candid  confession,  he  would 
admit  that  his  employes  are  entitled  to  all,  excepting  a  salary  for  his 
services  as  general  superintendent.  Whether  he  would  confess  it  or 
not,  it  is  a  fact,  nevertheless. 

Now,  I  am  dealing  with  straight,  honest,  undeniable  facts  and 
not  with  prevailing  conditions  that  may  appear  logical  because  of  our 
familiarity  with  them.  "Familiarity  blunts  the  edges  of  our  percep- 
tions," so  blunt  that  it  often  becomes  difficult  to  grasp  the  truth. 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

Fact  is,  few  men  are  capable  of  detached  or  abstract  thinking,  and 
women  are  well  nigh  a  blank  in  that  respect.  To  arrive  at  the  actual 
truth  through  the  process  of  reasoning,  it  frequently  becomes  neces- 
sary to  detach  one's  self  -from  what,  for  any  reason,  may  appear  to 
be  true,  and  think  in  the  abstract.  As,  for  instance,  all  objects  around 
us  appear  to  possess  the  property  of  color.  We  speak  of  things  being 
red,  blue,  green,  etc.,  when  in  fact,  light  alone  has  the  property  of 
color,  and  the  color  is  reflected  in  the  light  from  the  object.  It 
required  detached  thinking  to  discover  that  fact. 

So,  thinking  superficially,  and  influenced  by  our  familiarity  with 
competition,  that  system  may  appear  to  be  logical,  and  therefore,  the 
toiler  entitled  only  to  the  wage  arbitrarily  fixed  by  the  employer  who 
is  entitled  to  all  the  toiler  has  earned  for  him  as  "profit  on  his  invest- 
ment." The  profit  system  is  the  basic  principle  of  competition  with- 
out which  competition  would  be  impossible.  By  substituting  co- 
operation for  competition,  the  profit  system  would  be  abolished  and 
then,  you  see,  the  toiler  would  get  the  full  product  of  his  labor. 
Then  there  would  be  no  exploiting  of  labor  and  no  high-class 
"bums."  "Catch  on"? 

Now,  let  us  look  into  the  matter  a  little  deeper  and  we  will  find 
that  the  majority  of  business  men  of  every  description  are  bummers. 
To  make  this  assertion  a  tangible  fact,  we  will  take  as  a  basis  the 
manner  and  method  'by  which  the  business  of  a  town  of  say  5000 
population  should  be  conducted.  From  one  large  department  store 
fully  equipped  for  the  purpose,  goods  and  commodities  could  be, 
easily  supplied  to  all  the  inhabitants.  Well,  why  not  such  an  institu- 
tion supplant  the  numerous  stores  carrying  dry  goods,  groceries, 
shoes,  hardware,  etc.,  some  of  them  pulling  along  "by  the  skin  of 
the  teeth"  ?  Of  course,  you  understand,  the  department  store  would 
be  a  co-operative  institution  and  therefore  would  run  no  "skin  game" 
in  dealing  with  the  public.  From  this  viewpoint  you  should  be  able  to 
see  that  the  numerous  proprietors,  clerks  and  dependents  now  living 
off  the  community  are  bummers  pure  and  simple.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  even  as  it  is,  half  the  number  of  stores  would  be  ample  to  supply 
all  the  goods  the  community  requires,  so  that  half  the  proprietors, 
clerks  and  dependents  are  really  bummers  right  now. 

As  to  real  estate  men,  mine  promoters  and  all  others  who  run 
"skin  games,"  they  are  bummers  without  any  visible  means  of 
support  except  to  fleece  their  victims. 

So  in  the  last  analysis  the  laborer,  bearing  all  the  burden,  is  not 
exactly  a  draft  horse,  but  he  is  a  jackass,  and  has  no  better  sense 
than  to  do  all  the  fighting  in  all  the  wars.  And  when  a  war  is  over, 
all  that  survive  return  to  resume  a  life  '>f  toil  that  bummer4-  may 
continue  to  live  in  luxury  and  ease. 


56  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 


PITHY  POINTERS. 


In  enterprises  and  movements  of  great  moment,  men  build 
better  than  they  know,  and  often  better  than  they  intend.  Under  the 
prevailing  system,  men  are  actuated  by  selfish  motives  in  every 
undertaking-  A  great  railroad  system  is  built  up  and  equipped  for 
personal  gain,  yet  the  people  of  today  and  for  generations  to  come 
derive  all  the  real  benefits  resulting  from  its  operation. 

The  present  great  war  in  Europe  may  result  in  a  political  and 
economic  revolution,  although  the  instigators  never  dreamed  of  such 
a  result.  The  primary  object  of  the  war  was  to  deplete  the  over- 
crowding numbers  of  the  unemployed  and,  by  the  destruction  of 
property,  give  employment,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  to  all  the 
survivors  for  many  years  to  come.  There  was  a  growing  spirit  of 
unrest,  and  danger  "of  the  political  supremacy  of  the  Socialist  party 
which,  to  circumvent  and  more  firmly  entrench  the  ruling  class, 
necessitated  the  war. 

It  seems,  however,  to  successfully  carry  on  the  war,  it  became 
necessary  to  socialize  all  of  the  important  industries  and  to  aid  the 
world-wide  movement  for  temperance  by  restrictive  measures  that 
are  well-nigh  prohibitory.  Now,  if  Socialism  and  temperance  become 
entrenched  by  those  war  measures,- then  the  awful  sacrifice  of  life  and 
the  destruction  of  property  were  not  in  vain.  And  such  a  result  may, 
be  reasonably  anticipated  should  the  war  be  prolonged,  for  then  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  people  would  permit  a  return  to  the  conditions  that 
preceded  the  war. 

It  would  be  a  grim  joke  on  the  originators  and  promoters  of 
the  wrar  should  it  finally  result  in  bringing  about  the  very  conditions 
which  they  had  hoped  to  destroy,  and  that,  when  peace  shall  have 
been  restored,  all  the  industries  and  public  utilities  of  the  nations  of 
Europe  would  be  permanently  socialized,  with  temperance  reigning 
supreme  over  all.  Let  us  hope  and  pray  for  such  a  result. 

THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC  is  about  as  hard  to  get  rid  of  in  dry 
territory  as  it  is  to  kill  a  cat,  which  is  said  to  have  nine  lives.  A  story 
is  told  that  illustrates  the  tenacity  for  life  of  the  liquor  traffic. 

A  certain  man  had  a  worthless  cat  about  the  house  that  he 
decided  to  get  rid  of,  so  he  put  it  in  a  sack  with  a  brick  and  threw  it 
in  a  pond  nearby.  Shortly  after  he  noticed  the  cat  walking  around 
not  yet  dry  from  the  immersion.  Determined  to  get  rid  of  it,  he 
tied  its  feet,  put  it  in  a  sack  with  another  brick  and  threw  it  into  the 
pond.  Again  in  a  short  time  he  noticed  the  cat  going  toward  the 
house  to  get  in  and  dry  by  the  stove.  "Well,"  said  he,  soliloquizing, 
"I  will  get  rid  of  you,"  and  taking  the  cat  to  a  block  he  slashed  its 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  57 

head  off  with  an  ax.  He  then  went  into  the  house  for  some  purpose, 
and  in  a  few  minuutes  he  heard  a  scratching  at  the  door.  Opening- 
it  he  was  amazed  to  see  the  cat  there  holding  its  head  in  its  mouth, 
trying  to  get  in. 

A  GREAT  MANY  people  look  up  to  professional  men  as  all- 
wise  in  their  professions.  For  that  reason  they  are  "led  around  by 
the  nose"  with  "the  wool  pulled  down  over  their  eyes"  by  unscrup- 
ulous politicians  and  leaders.  A  good  story  is  told  of  the  supreme 
faith  that  such  a  person  had  in  a  doctor.  John  took  suddenly  ill  and 
soon  sank  into  apparent  unconsciousness.  A  doctor  was  quickly 
summoned  and  was  soon  at  the  bedside  diagnosing  the  case.  John's 
wife  was  watching  and  listening  in  breathless  silence,  and  was 
shocked  when  the  doctor  shook  his  head  and  she  heard  him  say  in  a 
low  voice,  "He  is  dead.''  It  aroused  John,  who  exclaimed:  "It's  not 
so.  I  am  not  dead  at  all !"  John's  wife  was  shocked  at  such  an  insult 
flung  at  the  doctor,  and  fairly  hissed  at  John :  "Hush,  John ;  the 
doctors  knows  more  than  you  do  about  it!" 

JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER  claims  that  wealth  is  a  great 
burden,  and  all  big  capitalists  agree  with  him.  No  doubt  that  great 
wealth  is  burdensome  to  the  owner  who  is  riding  on  the  necks  of  the 
people  who,  in  the  last  analysis,  bear  all  the  burdens. 

Here  is  a  story  that  furnishes  an  appropriate  illustration :  Pat 
had  been  to  town  on  his  little  mule  and  was  returning  with  a  number 
of  articles  tied  to  the  saddle,  and  on  his  shoulder  a  fifty-pound  sack 
of  flour.  He  met  a  neighbor  who  suggested  that  the  little  mule  was 
too  heavily  burdened.  "No,"  said  Pat,  "I'm  carrying  the  sack  of  flour 
mesilf." 

WOMAN  IS  A  CROSS  between  an  angel  and  everything  you 
ever  heard  of  in  all  your  life.  Some  women  are  mostly  angels,  but 
that  kind  is  getting  scarce.  They  were  once  plentiful  years  ago 
before  capitalism  threw  conditions  into  a  state  of  demoralization. 
Now  there  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  them  in  the  industrial  field 
and  a  great  many  dabbling  in  the  filthy  mire  of  politics  led  there  by  a 
gang  of  professional  agitators,  female  and  male. 

Woman  is  no  longer  the  "weaker  sex."  She  is  becoming  bold, 
intrepid,  daring,  while  man  is  "losing  his  nip."  In  recognition  of  her 
superior  fitness  for  running  things,  man  denudes  his  face  of  the  old 
emblem  of  masculinity  and,  if  it  were  possible,  thousands  of  "strong 
minded"  women  would  be  growing  beards  in  less  than  no  time. 

Thousands  of  the  fair  sex  are  getting  tired  of  being  just  one 
thing  forever.  It  is  becoming  monotonous  and  they  have  a  notion 
to  change  places  with  the  men.  The  result  is  a  shrinkage  in  the 
annual  output  of  babies  for  which,  under  the  prevailing  conditions, 
the  Lord  be  praised.  That's  a  more  humane  and  sensible  way  to 


58  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

settle  the  unemployed  problem  than  to  raise  them  in  "litters"  like 
they  did  long  ago  to  be  thinned  out  by  having  them  slaughtered  in 
wars.  Under  existing  conditions,  I  heartily  approve  of  the  policy  of 
curtailing  the  supply  for  the  overcrowding  army  of  the  unemployed, 
and  furnishing  ignoramuses  for  the  field  of  slaughter  at  the  bidding 
of  inhuman  rulers  and  leaders  backed  by  big  capitalists. 

Woman  is  naturally  mercenary — commercial  in  her  instincts — 
else  there  could  be  no  such  thing  as  the  "underworld."  So  that,  if  big 
capitalists  would  offer  a  neat  cash  premium  for  every  baby  born, 
there  would  soon  be  more  babies  than  you  could  "shake  a  stick  at." 

Woman  has  no  conception  whatever  of  a  moral  principle. 
Instead,  she  has  pride  akin  to  vanity,  fine  sensibilities  and  an  ardent 
religious  nature  which  answer  as  a  substitute  for  morality. 

Woman's  reasoning  faculties  are  poorly  developed,  and  she 
depends  upon  that  remarkable  instinct,  that  is  often  correct,  by  which 
she  "jumps  at  conclusions."  Hence,  she  has  no  detached  judgment. 
She  cannot  think  in  the  abstract  and,  therefore,  cannot  divorce  her 
mind  from  her  personality  and  reach  conclusions  through  a  process 
of  thinking  independent  and  beyond  the  environment  circumscribed 
bv  the  limitations  of  her  sex. 

»/ 

In  some  respects,  woman  is  a  natural  curiosity.  Her  ways  arc 
often  past  finding  out.  She  has  the  female  instinct  of  cunning  so 
highly  developed  that  she  can  pull  so  much  wool  over  man's  eyes 
as  to  make  him  appear  like  a  poodle  dog  looking  through  a  brush 
fence.  Of  course,  men  are  "Smart  Alexs"  and  think  they  are  wise, 
but  I  have  seen  poor  devils  going  around  with  enough  wool  pulled 
down  over  their  eyes  to  make  a  bed  quilt. 

It  is  unfair  to  give  woman  the  ballot  as  long  as  so  many  men 
are  "soft,"  as  it  is  no  trick  to  influence  thousands  of  mutts  by  her 
sex  alone,  to  say  nothing  of  her  tongue,  which  is  loose  at  both  ends. 
Still,  you  can  hardly  blame  the  men  for  wanting  the  women  to  vote, 
since  they  are  beginning  to  realize  that  they  have  made  a  filthy  botch 
of  politics  and,  as  usual,  want  the  women  to  clean  up  after  them.  Still, 
I'm  thinking  that,  as  the  women  don't  know  how,  they  are  apt  to 
make  a  nasty  mess  of  it. 

But  you  may  depend  upon  it  that  I  am  not  a  "woman  hater."  I 
contend  that,  when  women  are  well  behaved,  they  are  as  good  as 
anybody.  What  I  "kick  on"  is  when  they  get  "too  bio-  for  their 
breeches."  I  am  willing  to  concede  a  great  deal,  but  I  object  to  them 
taking  possession  of  the  whole  earth  and  fencing  it  in  with  barbed 
wire. 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  59 

SPEAKING  OF  BIG  THINGS,  if  it  weren't  for  Texas,  Cali- 
fornia would  be  the  biggest  state  in  the  Union.  Anyway,  Texas 
shrinks  up  considerably  when  it  comes  to  big  liars,  for  California 
can  put  it  over  her  about  10  to  1,  so  that  makes  California,  in  one 
respect,  the  biggest  state  in  the  Union. 

Real  estate  men  tell  some  "whallopers."  For  instance,  telling  an 
Easterner  that  in  some  localities  the  land  is  too  rich  to  raise  pumpkins 
and  melons  because  the  vines  grow  so  fast  they  wear  out  the 
pumpkins  and  melons  dragging  them  around.  You  may  have  heard 
that  joke  before.  If  so,  you  now  know  how  it  originated. 

That  agent  declared  that  on  such  land  the  corn  and  beans 
planted  together  grew  so  fast  that  they  looked  like  succcotash.  The 
only  drawback  was  that  a  very  high  stepladder  had  to  be  used  to 
gather  the  corn  and  beans,  and  in  harvesting  the  fodder  the  corn- 
stalks had  to  be  chopped  down  with  an  ax  and  the  roots  taken  out 
with  a  grubbing  hoe.  The  price  of  such  land  ranged  from  $1000  to 
$5000  per  acre. 

The  agent  was  then  trying  to  sell  the  Easterner  some  "goose 
land,"  not  quite  so  rich,  he  said,  at  $150  per  acre,  that  'pon  my  word 
wouldn't  raise  a  jack  rabbit 

Many  of  our  real  estate  men  would  surely  be  good  at  bunco. 
It  is  said  that  some  of  them  are  worse  than  others.  Still,  I  hardly 
see  how  that  could  be,  do  you?  Well,  some  of  them  try  to  make 
the  Easterner  believe  that  nuggets  grow  on  trees,  and  I  am  told  that 
one  Easterner  did  believe  it  and  proceeded  to  buy  a  lot  of  nuggets 
and  planted  them.  They  came  up  all  right  in  a  few  hours,  but  the 
real  estate  man  denied  harvesting  the  crop.  He  would  have  to  prove 
an  alibi  by  mighty  good  witnesses  before  he  could  convince  me  that 
he  didn't  "job"  the  Easterner. 

They  sell  a  great  deal  of  land  on  installments  and  as  fast  as 
one  purchaser  starves  out  on  the  poor  land  he  sells  it  to  another.  In 
some  cases  he  sells  the  same  piece  of  land  so  often  that  he  realizes 
about  $1000  an  acre  and  has  the  land,  with  considerable  improve- 
ments 'besides.  Now,  that  is  a  perfectly  legitimate  way  of  making 
money  and  a  heap  safer  than  holding  up  a  stage  or  a  train. 

Another  way  the  real  estate  man  contrives  to  make  money  is  to 
buy  up  a  tract  of  land  adjoining  a  town  or  small  city,  cut  it  up  into 
town  lots  and  stake  them  off  with  white  stakes  that  remind  one  of  a 
cemetery  for  poor  people.  They  run  out  the  streets  and  alleys  and 
sometimes  grade  the  streets  to  catch  the  wise  "sucker."  They  have  a 


60  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

blueprint  made  of  the  addition  to  the  town  or  city  and  about  a  car- 
load of  flaming  literature  printed  to  give  to  sub-agents  who  scatter 
out  over  the  country  to  sell  lots.  Say,  talk  about  hypnotism, 
telepathy  and  the  like,  why  those  fellows  are  past  masters  in  occult, 
black  art  and,  in  fact,  can  sell  town  lots  to  the  fakirs  of  India,  who 
are  said  to  be  further  advanced  along  that  line  than  any  human  beings 
on  earth.  Still,  it's  a  safe  bet  that  a  California  real  estate  agent  can 
sell  them  town  lots,  all  the  same. 

The  beauty  of  it  is,  when  a  man  can't  find  anything  else  that 
will  pay,  he  can  go  into  the  real  estate  business.  He  would  have  to 
be  a  "Joe  Dandy,"  though.,  to  make  his  salt  competing  with  the  old 
California  war  horses. 

A  good  many  preachers  have  grown  weary  of  preaching  to 
empty  benches  and  tackled  the  real  estate  business  and,  let  me  tell  you, 
they  hold  their  own  "and  then  some"  with  "the  fattest  of  them." 
Their  strong  forte,  though,  is  selling  mining  stock.  I  know  of  one 
who  floated  a  $100,000  mining  scheme  on  absolutely  nothing  but  "hot 
air."  Still,  just  because  he  has  been  a  preacher  is  no  sign  he  hasn't 
as  much  right  to  run  a  skin  game  as  anybody.  I  believe  in  fair  play 
This  thing  of  talking  about  an  ex-preacher  because  he  "puts  it  all 
over"  the  other  fellow  is  "played  out."  It's  a  free-for-all  game  of 
"everybody  for  himself  and  the  devil  for  the  hindmost." 

THE  SALOON  that  does  the  greatest  harm  is  the  finest  and 
most  neatly  kept,  with  a  clever  and  popular  barkeeper.  It  is  an 
inviting  place  of  resort  for  young  men  and  gentlemen,  and  is, 
therefore,  the  beginning  of  the  procession  of  inebriates  which  ends 
at  the  doggery.  If  all  saloons  were  doggeries,  there  would  be  v-tstly 
fewer  drunkards.  So  with  politics.  Wilson,  Bryan.  Roosevelt.  La 
Follette  and  all  of  that  class  are  at  the  head  of  a  procession  of  dupes 
that  ends  in  poverty,  hunger  and  rags.  By  their  inviting  professions 
and  promises,  they  hold  a  large  following  which,  in  large  part,  would 
turn  away  from  leaders  who  would  "show  their  hand."  If  all  of 
our  leaders  were  of  the  shady  class  there  would  be  vastly  fewer 
dupes  drawn  into  the  political  bunco  game. 

TO  START  the  eugenic  mating  system  into  practical  working 
order,  I  suggest  that  the  best  specimens  of  physical  manhood,  as 
determined  by  the  Eugenic  Board  of  Examiners,  be  commissioned 
to  take  the  lead  and  be  given  a  free  hand  with  compensation  for  their 
services.  They  should  be  stationed  at  fashionable  centers  and  health 
resorts,  and  should  be  licensed  to  keep  a  standing  ad.  in  the  news- 
papers, to  read  as  follows : 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  61 

"EUGENIC  GRADUATE! 

"Licensed  by  the  Eugenic  Board  of  Examiners.  Will  spend  the 
season  at  -  — .  None  but  the  best  specimens  of  physical  woman- 
hood, as  determined  by  the  Eugenic  Board  of  Examiners,  solicited. 
Rooms  and  first-class  accommodations  free." 

I  would  further  suggest  that  all  others  who  pass  the  examination 
could  marry  if  they  chose,  but  that  it  be  not  at  all  obligatory.  No 
other  animals  marry,  and  why  should  the  human  species?  Are  we 
any  better  than  our  "hairy  ancestors"?  "Not  on  your  tintype." 
They  neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage,  so  why  should  we 
longer  follow  such  a  needless  custom. 

WE  HAVE  the  single  gold  standard  which  is  in  violation  of 
natural  law.  That's  easy  to  prove.  All  of  nature's  creations  are 
formed  'by  twos.  All  animals,  including  man,  and  all  birds  and 
insects  have  legs  and  feet  formed  by  twos.  Kernels  are  formed  in 
even  numbers  of  rows  on  every  ear  of  corn,  and  grain  in  even 
numbers  of  rows  on  every  head  of  wheat,  barley  or  other  grains. 
Chemical  affinities  and  combinations  have  even  atomic  numbers. 
There  are  two  sexes,  and  every  attribute  of  the  mind  has  its  counter- 
part. As  for  instance,  love-hate,  joy-sadness,  hope-despondency, 
happiness-misery,  and  so  on.  Nature  is,  therefore,  a  double  standard. 

Now,  gold  and  silver  are  a  product  of  nature  and,  in  their  use 
as  currency,  we  should  conform  to  natural  law  in  their  coinage.  As 
long  as  we  use  nature's  money  \ve  should  conform  to  natural  law. 
Otherwise  we  violate  natural  law  and  the  people  suffer  the  conse- 
quences. As  natural  law  is  the  end  of  argument,  so  this  proposition 
admits  of  no  argument. 

I  will  just  add  that,  as  metallic  money  has  been  and  is  a  curse 
of  the  world,  therefore  both  gold  and  silver  should  be  demonetized, 
and  paper  money  issued  and  regulated  by  the  government,  and 
backed  by  its  practically  unlimited  credit.  And  that,  too,  is  not  a 
debatable  proposition. 

NATURE  IS  CO-OPERATIVE  in  all  of  her  activities.  The 
animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  are  evolved  from  the  mineral  king- 
dom and,  through  death  and  decay,  return  to  the  mineral,  to  again 
be  evolved  into  new  forms  of  animal  and  vegetable  growth,  which 
is  a  revolving  system.  The  interrelations  are  mutual,  reciprocal  and 
interchangeable.  Nature's  economic  system  is  perfect,  since  nothing 
is  gained  or  wasted — no  profit  and  loss. 

Every  mechanical  invention  that  human  ingenuity  has  contrived 
conforms  to  nature's  revolving  system.  All  machinery  and  vehicles 


62  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

of  every  kind  conform  to  that  system.  Everything  but  human 
governments  and  they  are  founded  on  private  ownership,  profit 
system  and  competition,  which  are  typified  by  the  tangent  or 
straight  line.  They  are  the  fundamental  error  and  the  parent  of  all 
social,  political,  economic  and  industrial  errors,  since  the  earliest 
.history  of  the  human  race. 

WHAT  CAUSE  brought  into  existence  the  liquor  traffic,  the 
tobacco  traffic,  prostitution,  white  slavery,  gambling  and  all  crimes 
committed  for  the  purpose  of  gain  ?  You  will  say  that  most  of  these 
evils  and  vices  are  co-existent  with  human  government,  which  is  true, 
but  that  is  not  answering  the  question.  Men  do  not  manufacture 
and  deal  in  liquors  and  tobacco  for  amusement;  women  do  not  drop 
down  to  the  underworld  from  choice,  and  white  slavery,  gambling 
and  crimes  are  not  a  diversion.  Then  why  did  all  these  evils  come 
into  existence?  The  answer  is  easy.  They  all,  including  political 
and  economic  abuses,  were  introduced  by  the  profit  system,  and  all 
of  them  aggravated  and  instensified  by  competition.  Now,  if  there 
had  been  no  profit  system  or  competition,  would  those  abominations 
have  existed?  There  can  be  but  one  answer,  and  every  voter  who 
has  a  grain  of  iron  in  his  blood  should  stand  for  the  system  of  gov- 
ernment that  would  eliminate  the  profit  system  and  competition,  and 
that  system  is  Social  Democracy. 

READER,  DO  YOU  honestly  believe  that  President  Wilson, 
Bryan,  La  Follette,  Roosevelt  and  other  "reform"  leaders  are  actually 
sincere  in  professing  to  believe  that,  under  capitalism,  any  permanent 
relief  can  be  secured  to  the  people,  from  economic  and  industrial 
abuse?  Do  you  believe  it?  Well,  if  you  do,  you  surely  would  be  an 
easy  victim  for  the  bunco  man.  It  was  your  kind  that  believed  in 
rulers  and  leaders  all  down  the  ages  and  were  led,  and  kept,  in  a  hell 
on  earth,  and  the  kind  that  now  believes  in  them  to  the  extent  of 
entering  the  most  terrible  slaughter  field  the  world  has  ever  known 
and  offering  their  lives  by  the  millions  as  a  sacrifice  of  ignorant 
credulity  to  worse  than  beastly  devils  who  easily  lead  them  to  the 
slaughter. 

HERE  ARE  SOME  "beauties"  of  the  profit  system:  The 
doctor  depends  for  distinction  in  his  profession  and  his  very  living, 
for  that  matter,  on  the  sickness  and  accidents  that  overtake  people. 
As  he  prospers  when  there  is  much  sickness,  naturally  he  is  elated 
over  his  prosperity. 

•The  druggist  is  the  doctor's  assistant  and  aids  him  materially 
by  making  a  great  many  people  sick  from  taking  his  patent  medi- 
cines. He,  too,  prospers  on  people's  misfortunes. 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  63 

The  undertaker — well,  he  has  the  whip  hand.  The  victims  of 
the  doctor  and  druggist  furnish  him  customers,  with  the  further 
advantage  that  death  is  inevitable  and  sooner  or  later  he  gets  them 
all  as  customers.  And,  moreover,  he  has  the  advantage  of  charging, 
exorbitant  prices  for  his  goods  without  running  the  risk  of  being 
"Jewed  down." 

And  the  lawyer — he  is  surely  the  limit  any  way  you  take  him. 
He  also  depends  on  people's  misfortunes  for  gain  and,  in  many  cases, 
he  hastens,  and  sometimes  actually  creates,  the  misfortune. 

The  saloonkeeper  prospers,  not  on  the  misfortunes  of  people, 
but  on  their  weakness.  It  is  to  his  interest  to  create  among  people  the 
habit  of  dissipating  and  throwing  their  money  away  for  "booze." 

Verily,  great  is  the  Profit  System! 

NO  DEVICE,  appliance  or  machine  ever  invented  created  such 
an  economic  and  social  injury  as  the  automobile.  It  hastens  the  con- 
centration of  wealth  by  leaps  and  bounds  by  taking  hundreds  of 
millions  of  dollars  out  of  circulation  and  building  up  trusts  that 
return  little  of  it  into  circulation.  Ford,  who  has  proven  himself  to 
be  a  half-breed  Socialist,  is  a  notable  exception,  and  deserves  the 
monopoly  of  the  automobile  trade. 

While  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  automobile  is  a  great  con- 
venience, it  is,  nevertheless,  an  expensive  luxury.  Thousands  of 
people  who  would  do  well  to  own  a  carriage  and  horses  have 
purchased  machines  on  installment  or  secured  the  price  by  a  mortgage 
on  their  homes.  The  farmer,  the  blacksmith,  the  harnessmaker  and 
the  liveryman  are  all  badly  injured,  for  the  reason  that  the  machine 
has  supplanted  horses,  harness  and  vehicles.  In  fact,  no  one  derives 
any  profit  from  the  auto  but  salesmen  and  garage  proprietors,  and 
they  are  non-producers.  And  they  clean  up  but  a  small  per  cent  of  the 
money  paid  out  for  machines  and  supplies.  The  lion's  share  goes  to 
build  up  the  auto  trusts. 

The  worst  feature  of  the  popularity  of  the  auto,  however,  is 
the  demoralization  of  young  women  by  "the  joy  ride."  In  the  large 
towns  and  cities  the  wreck  of  young  womanhood  is  deplorable. 
Aside  from  that  sad  condition,  I  have  "no  kick  coming,"  since  the 
more  rapidly  wealth  concentrates,  the  sooner  the  middle  class  will 
"squeal."  That  class  must  be  brought  down  a  notch  or  two  before  we 
can  hope  for  real  economic  reform. 

TO  "TRAIN  a  child  up  in  the  way  he  should  go"  is  quite  a 
problem,  if  the  way  he  should  go  is  to  pursue  an  honorable,  manly 
and  upright  course.  I  trained  my  two  boys  to  manhood,  and  I 


64  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

trained  them  in  the  way  they  (and  everybody  else)  should  go,  but 
they  have  both  learned  the  ways  of  the  world  and  find  themselves 
out  of  harmony  with  nearly  all  business  methods  and  dealings.  Still, 
I  have  no  regret  that  I  taught  them  never  to  sidestep  from  the  path 
of  sobriety  and  rectitude,  for,  after  all,  "honestly  is  the  best  policy." 
The  earth  would  be  a  social  paradise  if  everybody  would  live  up  to 
that  idea. 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT  is  literally  a  "rough  rider"  with  a 
disposition  to  ride  rough-shod  over  everybody  and  everything.  He 
is  an  intellectual  cannibal  with  the  polish  of  a  classical  education. 
He  is  a  born  dictator  and  as  such  is  a  dangerous  leader  for  his 
leading  is  toward  dictatorship. 

Roosevelt  is  intensely  selfish  and  bigoted.  His  tirade  a  few  years 
ago  against  race  suicide  and  ardent  appeal  to  the  people  to  raise  big 
families,  and  his  more  recent  mission  across  the  continent  to  stir  up 
a  war  sentiment,  brand  him  as  a  creature  devoid  of  human  sympathy, 
and  place  him  on  a  level  with  tyrants  and  despots  of  long  ago.  He 
would  advise  the  poor  and  ignorant,  who  have  no  better  sense  than 
to  heed  his  advice,  to  rear  large  families  to  further  overcrowd  the 
army  of  the  unemployed  and,  to  deplete  their  numbers,  he  would 
stir  up  a  war  spirit  and  provoke  trouble  that  would  result  in  whole- 
sale slaughter. 

And  Benjamin  Ide  Wheeler,  president  of  the -State  University, 
which  ranks  among  the  greatest  institutions  of  learning,  is  little 
better.  Indeed,  his  position  places  him  in  touch  with  the  young  men 
of  the  country  who  naturally  look  up  to  him  as  authority.  He,  too, 
has  a  classical  education,  which  proves  how  much  of  error  is  incul- 
cated by  our  misleading  system  of  education.  The  fundamental  error 
of  competition,  and  its  outgrowth — capitalism  and  commercialism — 
is  taught  as  the  cardinal  principle  of  government,  together  with 
history  that  glorifies  triumphant  generalship  and  applauds  foolhardy 
soldiers  who  are  blindly  led  through  appalling  slaughter  to  victory. 
Instruction  in  civil  government  and  economics  is  full  of  error,  while 
the  two  greatest  theories  of  science — gravitation  and  "the  descent  of 
man" — are  taught  as  true,  to  the  detriment  of  all  who  accept  them  as 
such.  For  error  is  misleading,  and  if  error  constitutes  a  large  part  of 
the  curriculum  of  the  educational  system,  then  we  need  not  wonder 
that  Roosevelt  and  Wheeler  are  so  blinded  by  false  education  as  to 
unconsciously  advocate  the  culmination  of  all  errors — war. 

From  this  viewpoint  it  is  easy  to  understand  why  war  is  not 
eliminated  by  so-called  enlightenment.  The  general  course  of  instruc- 
tion in  all  of  what  are  termed  "civilized  nations"  is  the  same.  The 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  65 

same  great  errors  of  history,  of  the  fundamental  error  of  govern- 
ment, of  economics,  of  science,  are  taught — all  leading  the  learner 
away  from  the  truth  to  where  he  becomes  bewildered  and  intellec- 
tually demoralized  in  the  entanglement  of  error. 

In  Europe  the  war  spirit  has  been  kept  aflame,  particularly  in 
Germany,  where  even  the  professed  Socialists,  by  reason  of  the  taint 
of  false  education,  lost  their  bearing  and  fell  into  line  in  the  most 
unrighteous  and  devastating  war  ever  waged  on  earth. 

I  am  glad  to  state  in  this  connection,  however,  that  we  have  in 
this  nation  two  great  educators  who  are  untarnished  by  the  war 
spirit.  One  is  Woodrow  Wilson,  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
David  Starr  Jordan,  chancellor  of  the  Stanford  University.  Also, 
AYilliam  J.  Bryan,  although  a  politician,  is  a  powerful  apostle  of 
peace.  Let  these  great  men  renounce  all  other  errors,  particularly 
the  fundamental  error  of  human  government,  and  they  will  then 
stand  for  the  principles  of  an  enlightened  and  permanent  peace. 

FOR  OVER  THIRTY  YEARS  I  have  felt  a  keen  sympathy 
for  the  happy,  joyous  children  rollicking  on  the  playgrounds  of 
country  schools  as  I  have  passed  them,  for  I  could  see  for  the 
majority  of  them  a  cruel  destiny  awaiting  the  approach  of  mature 
years.  Most  of  them  have  poor  parents  and  their  bright,  innocent, 
unsuspecting  children  had  before  them. a  life  of  toil  in  competition 
with  the  degraded,  cheap  labor  of  other  nations.  I  could  plainly  see 
the  approach  of  the  deplorable  economic  and  industrial  conditions 
that  now  prevail.  Many  of  those  children  of  thirty  years  ago  are 
now  "drawers  of  water  and  hewers  of  wood"  for  their  masters,  else, 
worse  still,  in  enforced  idleness.  Yet  this  is  "The  land  of  the  free  and 
the  home  of  the  brave !" 

THE  IDEA  of  a  literal  hell  doubtless  originated  from  the  awful 
havoc  wrought  by  the  damnable  business  methods  of  inhuman 
capitalism,  suggesting  to  the  founders  of  religion  a  hell  with  all  of 
its  fire  and  furies  superintended  by  a  sovereign  devil  who  we  now 
recognize  as  some  hideous  human  monster  who  was  and  is  the  ruling- 
spirit  of  capitalism.  Such  monsters  have  been  the  curse  of  humanity 
all  down  the  ages  and  we  have  them  today  more  cunning  and  crafty, 
if  not  more  inhuman  and  brutal,  than  their  predecessors  who 
blackened  the  pages  of  history  with  direful  calamities  which,  through 
the  madness  of  greed,  they  inflicted  on  an  ignorant  and  servile 
humanity.  "Down  With  Capitalism"  should  be  the  slogan  of  all 
humanity,  by  peaceable  means  if  possible,  but  failing — then  by  force 
which,  after  all,  is  the  only  power  recognized  by  the  demons  of  lust. 


66  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

A  PROPHET  of  old  said :  "Once  I  was  young,  but  now  I  am 
old,  yet  I  never  have  seen  the  righteous  forsaken  or  his  seed  begging 
bread."  Following  words  occur  in  the  Lord's  prayer :  "Give  us  this 
day  our  daily  bread." 

Now,  that  just  suits  capitalism — "servants,  obey  your  masters," 
and  look  to  the  Lord  for  daily  bread.  Reader,  does  it  occur  to  you 
that,  under  a  co-operative  system  of  government,  such  expressions 
would  ever  have  been  spoken  or  put  into  print  for  the  guidance  of 
future  generations  ? 

As  between  serving  God  and  Mammon,  Mammon  seems  to 
have,  and  always  had,  the  whip  hand. 

THE  COMING  of  the  old  Liberty  Bell  on  July  16,  1915, 
en  route  to  the  Panama-Pacific  Exposition,  was  well  advertised  in 
advance  by  the  Redding  papers,  and  a  large  crowd  assembled  at  the 
depot  to  witness  the  old  relic  that  rang  out  the  glad  tidings  of 
freedom  from  British  oppression  more  than  a  century  and  a  quarter 
ago.  As  the  train  pulled  in  a  few  "stand  patters"  made  a  feeble  effort 
to  cheer,  but  the  crowd  failed  to  join  in,  so  there  was  no  evidence  of 
patriotic  enthusiasm — only  curiosity. 

To  me  the  old  'bell  was  a  study.  I  pondered  over  its  early  fate 
when  its  clear,  resounding  intonations  were  hushed  forever,  and  to 
me  the  crack  in  the  old  bell  is  a  token  of  short-lived  freedom,  just 
as  the  usefulness  of  the  bell  was  of  short  duration.  Else  why  its  fate  ? 
My  sympathy  was  aroused  for  the  grand  old  bell  that  rested  there 
before  the  curious  crowd  in  silence  as  if  in  mute  despair,  yet  speaking 
eloquently  of  its  departed  usefulness  as  a  Liberty  Bell.  The  poor  old 
bell  would  fain  ring  out  the  glad  tidings  of  a  new  Freedom,  a  new 
Independence  and  a  new  Liberty  that  some  day  must  come : 

"I  beg  of  you  not  to  desert  me,  but  make  of  me  a  new  casting 
that  I  may  ring  out  the  old  and  ring  in  the  new  deliverance,  this 
time  from  economic  and  industrial  oppression  which  will  mean 
Freedom,  Independence  and  Liberty  for  our  country  forever." 

"ALL  THINGS  COME  to  him  who  waits"  is  an  old  saying, 
and  undoubtedly  correct.  A  clock  or  a  watch  that  is  not  running  has 
the  correct  time  twice  in  twenty-four  hours.  A  timepiece  that  is 
running  and  not  keeping  correct  time  is  never  right.  So  that,  if  one 
tries  too  hard  to  get  ahead  he  is  out  of  harmony  with  the  principles 
upon  which  success  depends,  and  is  like  the  timepiece  that  fails  to 
keep  correct  time — a  failure. 

It  is  simply  impossible  for  a  restless,  impatient  person  to  become 
wealthy  through  prevailing  business  methods.  The  cool,  calm, 
deli-berate  money-maker  will  trip  him  as  he  hurries  on.  The  born 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 


67 


money-maker  patiently  waits  the  opportunity  to  trip  all  who  are 
rushing  on  to  an  imaginary  success.  In  a  word,  all  millionaires  who 
accumulate  their  wealth  through  business  sagacity  are  extremely 
patient,,  and  can  easily  wait  until  it  would  wear  on  the  patience  of 
Job  to  drive  a  fat  bargain. 


MT.  LASSEN. 

I  was  an  eye  witness  to  every  eruption  of  Mt.  Lassen  from  the 
first  one  to  the  last,  covering  a  period  of  over  one  year  and  up  to 
August  8th,  when  I  left  Redding,  so  that  this  description  may  be 
taken  as  reliable. 


68  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

There  were  over  one  hundred  eruptions,  but  many  of  them  were 
only  large  enough  to  entertain  sightseers  who  came  to  Red  Bluff  or 
Redding  to  witness  the  famous  phenomenon.  The  picture  on  the 
cover  of  this  book  was  taken  after  the  great  eruption  of  May  22d, 
when  the  old  mountain  was  slumbering.  The  big  crater  had  choked 
by  debris  forced  up  by  subterranean  pressure  which  stopped  the  great 
flow  of  mud.  Not  since- the  first  adventurer  saw  Mt.  Lassen,  to  the 
date  of  the  great  eruption,  has  its  loftiest  peak  been  barren  of  snow. 
The  picture  shows  the  transformation  from  a  snow  crown  to  one  of 
menacing  blackness. 

The  accompanying  picture  shows  the  mountain  in  active  erup- 
tion, which  is  famous  as  the  "face  picture,"  for  the  reason  that  the 
smoke  shows  a  remarkable  outline  of  a  human  face.  That  eruption 
sent  torrents  of  mud  clown  its  slopes  into  Hat  Creek  valley,  carrying 
with  it  all  obstructions,  even  to  tearing  away  a  ridge  and  leaving  an 
embankment  ninety  feet  high.  The  settlers  of  Hat  Creek  valley  fled 
for  their  lives  to  high  ground  and  escaped  death  in  the  torrent  of  mud 
and  debris.  A  huge  stone,  estimated  to  weigh  over  one  hundred  tons, 
was  hurled  five  miles  from  the  crater  and  was  hot  for  several  days. 
I  was  at  Redding,  where  I  commanded  a  splendid  view  of  the 
volcano,  forty-seven  miles  away,  and  surely  witnessed  a  sublime 
spectacle  as  the  vast  volume  of  smoke  boiled  out,  spreading  and 
rising  two  miles  above  the  crater.  It  was  awe  inspiring,  for  one 
would  shudder  for  the  fate  of  the  many  settlers  and  families  who 
have  comfortable  homes  within  easy  reach  of  destruction.  But  when 
the  crater  choked,  the  eruption  subsided,  and  for  some  time  the  old 
mountain  slumbered  in  menacing  silence.  A  number  of  openings 
have  formed  from  which  smoke  and  steam  issue  continually.  It  may 
be  safely^predicted  that  the  forces  below  are  so  unclermining  the  peak 
that  eventually  it  will  sink  and  then  will  come  the  great  eruption. 

I  use  these  pictures  to  illustrate  the  industrial  condition  of  the 
nation.  The  settlers  in  comfortable  homes  in  easy  reach  of  destruc- 
tion represent  the  people  of  the  United  States.  A  warning  of  the 
danger  is  shown  by  the  accompanying  picture,  and  the  grim  silence 
of  the  blackened  peak  as  shown  by  the  picture  on  the  cover  of  this 
book  warns  us  that  the  forces  of  unemployment,  general  discontent 
and  unrest  are  gathering  for  a  disastrous  eruption.  The  settlers  are 
warned  of  the  danger  and  are  living  in  false  security.  Are  we 
warned  that  we  are  resting  in  false  security  over  a  slumbering 
industrial  volcano?  I  have  endeavored  to  show  in  these  chapters 
the  only  means  of  escape  which  I  trust  will  be  seriously  considered 
by  the  reader. 

LATEST  ERUPTIONS :— Two  big  eruptions  of  Mt  Lassen 
are  reported  from  Redding,  on  September  23  and  24,  when  a  vast 


A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO  69 

volume  of  ashes  and  smoke  gushed  from  a  new  crater,  rising  thous- 
ands of  feet  above  the  peak,  then  settling  down  and  soon  obscuring 
the  mountain  in  a  bank  of  haze.  At  this  writing  it  is  not  known 
whether  there  was  a  flow  of  mud. 


A  FINAL  WORD. 


Following  is  an  extract  from  an  eloquent  speech  delivered  by  a 
Democrat,  Senator  A.  A.  Worsley,  at  Miami,  Arizona,  on  Labor 
Day.  It  is  a  fit  companion  piece  for  a  chapter  in  this  book  entitled, 
"The  Meanest  Creature  on  Earth."  The  following  burning  words 
tell  of  the  mean  things  inflicted  upon  the  millions  of  poor,  and  I 
expose  the  real  perpetrators  who,  in  all  ages,  have  been  the  cause 
of  "Man's  Inhumanity  to  Man :" 

"By  the  owning  of  the  resources  of  the  earth,  including  the 
land  and  the  machinery,  a  few  men  are  empowered  to  rob  us  at  their 
will.  They  take  the  unearned  increment,  which  belongs  to  society 
and  is  created  by  society,  and  appropriate  it  to  themselves.  It  is  a 
fresh  and  continuous  robbery  that  goes  on  every  day  and  every  hour. 
It  is  not  from  the  produce  of  the  past  that  rent  is  drawn;  it  is  not 
from  the  produce  of  the  present — it  is  a  toll  levied  upon  Labor  con- 
stantly and  continuously.  E.very  blow  of  the  hammer,  every  stroke 
of  the  pick,  every  thrust  of  the  shuttle,  every  throb  of  the  steam 
engine,  pay  tribute  to  rent,  interest  and  profit.  It  levies  upon  the 
earnings  of  the  men  who,  deep  under  the  ground,  risk  their  lives, 
and  of  those  who  over  white  surges  hang  to  reeling  masts,  it  claims 
its  reward  of  the  laborer  and  the  fruits  of  the  inventor's  patient 
efforts.  It  takes  little  children  from  play  and  from  school  and  com- 
pels them  to  work  under  unhealthy  conditions.  It  takes  the  mothers 
and  the  daughters  from  the  home  and  draws  them  into  the  field  of 
manual  labor  and  industry  to  help  support  the  family.  It  robs  the 
shivering  of  warmth,  the  hungry  of  food,  the  sick  of  medicine,  the 
anxious  of  peace.  It  debases  and  imbrutes  and  embitters ;  it  crowds 
families  of  eight  and  ten  into  squalid  rooms;  it  herds,  like  swine, 
agricultural  gangs  of  boys  and  girls;  it  fills  the  gin  palace  and  the 
groggery  with  those  who  have  no  comfort  in  their  homes.  It  makes 
lads  who  might  be  useful  men,  candidates  for  prisons  and  peniten- 
taries ;  it  fills  brothels  with  girls  who  might  have  known  the  pure  joy 
of  motherhood ;  it  sends  greed  and  all  evil  passions  prowling  through 
society  as  a  hard  winter  drives  wolves  to  the  abodes  of  men.  It 


70  A  SLUMBERING  VOLCANO 

darkens  faith  in  the  human  soul -and  across  the  reflection  of  a  just  and 
merciful  Creator  draws  the  veil  of  a  hard  and  blunted  cruel  fate. 
Like  a  great  octopus,  with  its  fibroid  fingers,  it  reaches  down  into  the 
womb  of  futurity  and  robs  the  unborn  child  of  its  natural  heritage,  its 
right  to  the  use  of  the  earth  and  the  resources  placed  there  by  the 
Creator  for  the  use  of  all  mankind,  and  from  the  garden  of  the  human 
heart  it  plucks  and  tramples  the  buds  of  hope  and  joy  into  the  blood 
and  tears  of  sorrow." 

AN  EXPLANATION.— While  reading  pages  36  and  38,  turn 
to  the  "Symbol  of  Truth  and  Error"  as  printed  on  the  outside  cover. 
It  will  aid  in  reaching  the  true  conception  of  the  fundamental 
principle  of  Truth  and  Error,  which  will  lead  to  the  correct  inter- 
pretation of  Natural  Law. 


YC   15171 


Gaylord  Bros. 

Makers 

Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
PAT.  JAN.  21, 1908 


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